June is busting out all over!

Okay--- so the musical, "Carousel", isn't a favorite, but the song title from the show definitely refelcts how we feel about our yard! As promised, here's a brief tour of the back with special focus on peonies!


In another few days, all of our peony plants should be in full bloom! We were probably most excited about our peony tree this year. (see blog post several posts down) The yard is finally taking shape for how we dreamed it could be! Eventually, (next year?) we'll be able to put down some stepping stones for form a nice path through the yard that leads to the fire pit, and then we can mulch or put stones on the rest. It'd be so nice to not have to mow grass in the backyard. The front yard has taken shape nicely. Here's the small piece of landscaping that we did in front.

Melanie also attended an event at the Stevens Point Temple. Temple Beth Israel was officially entered into the National Registry of Historical Places. It's the third oldest Temple in Wisconsin, and it has the oldest original sanctuary in the whole state. Lots of history! Unfortunately, the community scattered and disbanded in 1989. Guess it's hard to hold services when you can't get a minyan togther. The inside was nice, and it was sad to think about the community that could have been so close to where we live! For now, we continue to drive over 100 miles for our community.

Time for a recipe!- Iron Chef RADISH!

Today, Melanie and Lorie decided it was time for a harvest. The garden is becoming quite impressive, and we are in the danger zone for having our lettuce bolt and starting seeding. After that, it's too bitter to eat. So, salads are being eaten at many meals. A large bag of lettuce was delivered to a friend. Also, we went into "harvest all the radishes" mode. After poking around in the garden, Melanie realized that the radishes were HUGE! We'd never seen radishes this big. We picked enough to make three recipes worth, and it also will allow room for some of the smaller radish plants to spread and grow a bit more. The problem was simple-- what to do with the radish tops. Melanie dug around and found a recipe for radish top soup. It tastes pretty good. It's not as "radishy" as one would think. It almost tastes like a potato leek soup. We substituted vegetable broth for the chicken broth and used half and half instead of heavy whipping cream.

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
2 medium potatoes, sliced
4 cups raw radish greens 4 cups veggie broth
1/3 cup half and half
5 radishes, sliced

DIRECTIONS:
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and saute until tender. Mix in the potatoes and radish greens, coating them with the butter. Pour in veggie broth. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.
2. Allow the soup mixture to cool slightly, and transfer to a blender. Blend until smooth.
3. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Mix in the half and half. Cook and stir until well blended. Serve with radish slices.



After this, Melanie decided to move to step two in Operation Radish. Out came the cream cheese, and the radish dip was created! SOOOooooooooooo delicious! If you like garlic, this is the recipe for you! Let's just say that even the cats don't want to sleep near Melanie's breath this evening.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cloves garlic, peeled
6 radishes, quartered
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place garlic in the container of a food processor, and pulse until finely minced. Add radishes, and mince. Add cream cheese, and mix until well blended. Transfer to a serving dish, and chill until serving.



As for the rest of the garden, Lorie is enjoying all the beautiful flowers! While Melanie was really charged with making the veggies happen, Lorie is the flower queen, and has quite a knack for picking out some beautiful perennials. Look at this gorgeous iris!

Tomorrow, we'll have more updates. There is another blog-garden tour planned as well as a Radish Coleslaw recipe in the works. In the meantime, Melanie's going to de-vampire the county with her dragon garlic/radish breath.

Water water EVERYWHERE!

This weekend turned out to be a little less then we expected. Since the weather was supposed to be a bit wet, we decided to drive to Milwaukee to visit family. Melanie managed to get another one of her fabulous hotel deals-- Hyatt Regency in Downtown Milwaukee for only $42! Check out the view from the 17th floor. We loved the hotel, and we really didn't want to leave! After a few hours of outlet shopping (can you say Eddie Bauer pants for $8!) we went to Melanie's neck of the woods. What was supposed to be a nice dinner turned into all three of us huddling in the basement waiting for the tornado to pass. Milwaukee County can thank Melanie for no tornado. She was the ONLY one that wanted to go to the basement, and because she forced Lorie and her dad downstairs, the whole county was safe! After the threat of tornados passed, the flooding began. The sky opened up, and the roads flooded. Trees came down and cars got stalled out. It was quite scary. Lorie's sister had her basement flood. Our lunch date with Lorie's niece was postponed (understandable!) and we were left wandering the streets of Milwaukee with Melanie's dad. We forced him to drive downtown with us to dine on some delicious George Webb. Then, we took a walk down the River Walk. After loading up our "Green Machine" (Ford Focus) with our newly inherited garden decorations, we headed back up-north. The sky was ominous. We snapped a few pictures between gawking at the flooding. What a site! When we arrived back home, we emailed a few of the photos to the local news station as they accept viewer photos. We were broadcast! Lorie's son emailed and exclaimed that they showed our picture and educated the listeners about "shelf clouds" and storms. Very neat-- here are those pictures.

So long since the last blog-- look at the garden!

Sometimes life gets so busy that one can't even find time to write about it... that's where Lorie and Melanie have been for the last month. Spring sprung. There were graduations to attend. Square Foot Gardens to build. Seeds to sow. Beds to dig. Plants to plant. It's been busy..... but look at the progress of the garden since you've last seen it--- One to the most beautiful new additions to the front yard is a peony tree. We've never heard of a peony tree before. Melanie's mother gave it to us about one year ago. It was one of the last things-- if not the last thing-- she gave us before she passed away. It was neglected last year, but once it was planted, it started to come back to life. This year, once the winter covering was lifted from it, it sprouted quite quickly! It should eventually grow to be about four or five feet high and about four feet wide. The color was a surprise, and we were quite thrilled when it opened up pink. And-- the last big event lately was the graduation of Lorie's daughter! The graduation ceremony was long but lovely. The graduate was beautiful and nervous, but everything went perfectly! A BIG congratuations to the Class of 2008!!!

This is why we don't plant in April.....

Today, Lorie and I are completely exhausted! This weekend was very eventful-- first we had Lorie's daughter's Prom. She was beautiful, and we should definitely provide an updated picture. That photo was taken at the house of a member of her prom party. (just so you don't think that we live in that lap of luxury!) She reported that she had a fabulous time!

Then, yesterday, Lorie and Melanie got down to business and finished their square foot garden structure. They are both completely wiped out today because all the hard labor. You would think that such a small structure would be easy to build, but acquiring all the materials was the tough part. Melanie lugged so many packets of dirt, peat, and vermiculite home, that her back is screaming! ---But-- as you can see-- the effort was well worth it!

Of course, this is very exciting! Tomorrow, I'm going to start putting in some of the cold weather seeds and crops-- well, maybe not the crops yet, but definitely some of the seeds that need a cold start. We are still four weeks away from final frost, and the growing season is pretty short. We'll have to move quickly! The first 4' x 8' plot will be for Melanie's use-- she has a plan established, and she'll show you that tomorrow. Lorie thinks that she might try her had at some corn. She is telling Melanie that there is NOTHING in the world like sweet corn picked directly off the vine. We'll provide a full report (assuming that the squirrels and racoons don't get all the corn!) in August or September. Now-- here's the depressing part. JUST when we think that Spring has Sprung, and everyone is ready to get going for the season-- we wake up to THIS!!!! What is the meaning of this!? Who ordered this? You may not be able to tell, but it still is snowing in that picture, too. We heard this morning that we're getting an inch. Yuck. At least I didn't throw any of my seedlings/crops in the garden yet. I guess it still is April in Wisconsin.

Promzilla attacks!

Alright- maybe "Promzilla" isn't a fair title, but it sounds so cute! Lorie's daughter has her final high school formal dance this evening, and it's her Senior Prom. She has very cold weather to contend with-- it suddenly dropped from highs in the mid-70s to a high of 42 degrees today. There's also a chance of snow showers! Poor thing, but at least the dance won't be too warm. The main reason for this post is to show you how beautiful Lorie's daughter is- I mean--it's no surprise! She's got some good genes going in her favor, right? So amazing to think that Lorie's litle girl is going to graduate from high school soon and start college. Melanie was going through some pictures and found another picture of her dressed up -- standing in the same spot. So cute! Now that Melanie and Lorie are all verklempt, it's time for Lorie's little girl to ready for the Prom. She has appointments for hair up-dos and nails and makeup and photos and food and putting on the huge (or as she calls it, "poofy") dress and...... Wish us luck-- the legendary Promzilla is officially on the loose! ****Note: I'm sure Lorie's daughter would like all to know that the prom dress picture is only a dress picture. It does not include hair, makeup, nails, shoes, etc.... this was only a forced dress try-on for pictures. End note. ****

It's been awhile!- nothing to report

Well, there's not too much to report in Melanie and Lorie land. No news is good news, right? The animals are still getting along. The winter has moved into spring. Lorie and Melanie are still working at the same places... blah blah blah. It is now Passover, so there was a seder hosted at our house. Unfortuantely, we forgot to take really nice pictures, but we'll show you one from last year. This was from a smaller seder that we did, but it was still very nice. On Sunday night, Lorie and I went to a congregational seder up north. It wasn't our own congregation, but it was still very nice.
Yesterday, Melanie cleaned out all her fat clothes. This was quite an accomplishment! She threw away about three large bags, and two bags are headed over to the resale shop. Hopefully, she's make enough money to buy a few pairs of cute Eddie Bauer jeans! Finally, Lorie and Melanie are getting ready to plant their square foot garden! Melanie's birthday is coming up fast, and she's asked a friend to help her assemble the garden. Once the raised bed is complete, she can get her seeds in or plant the four flats of young veggies that she bought from the greenhouse. We'll have some great pictures, I'm sure.