My little companion

Scooter and Lucy were our first cockatiels.  Lucy lived to be about sixteen.  The week after she died we had hung Scooter's cage outside as we often did.  It was Mother's Day, and we were out in the backyard playing badminton.  Suddenly we heard a cockatiel. A little gray female cockatiel flew into our backyard. The reincarnation of Lucy!  She flew to the cage and landed on it. Ted opened the door and she walked in and started eating seeds.  This was actually the third cockatiel we had acquired in this fashion!  And it was by no means the last. Ted and Frances named her Neeble, from Lizard Music by Daniel Pinkwater.
Neeble had obviously been hand raised.  She was very tame and was quite anxious to have us preen her. However, she quickly transferred her interest from us over to Scooter.   Scootie eventually died at the ripe old age of 25, leaving Neeble as our only Cockatiel.  It has taken some time, but she has slowly transferred her affection back over to us, even going so far as to let me preen her.  She has not yet reached that stage with Ted, but I think it's only a matter of time. 

Pomegranate puree recipe

It really is fall. The weather has totally changed the last few days. It's been cloudy and rainy. I traded my shorts and tank top for pedal-pushers and a long-sleeve jersey for the ride up the hill. We put an extra blanket on the bed. Field work continues but mostly we are in the office working on our manuscripts. This fall is being dominated by this effort and we aren't going to Wisconsin in order to meet our deadline. I'm really sad about that. We are collecting walnuts and enjoying our fall harvest of pomegranates.

This year the pomies on the volunteer tree are very tasty and plentiful. The "Wonderful" gets a lot of shade now, and doesn't have many fruit (although they are wonderful).
I made a batch of pomegranate puree today following a method Ted worked out. First, shell up a bunch of seeds (called arils apparently). Instead of eating them, put them in the blender. This is the fruit from 3 pomegranates.
Grind them up (don't add water) and then put them in a pot and cook for a while. Then put them in the foley food mill and grind. This is the kind of amazing part, as you get to see all the seeds, and realize that you normally eat those seeds.
I thought the puree was a little thin, so I cooked it some more to reduce it, before putting it into jars and freezing.

Life is Unpredictable

I've been giving blood off and on since I was eighteen, and yes there is a first time for everything! The phlebotomist didn't get the wrap tight enough and I had just sat down with a pepsi and a chocolate chip cookie when I looked at my arm and yikes! Blood everywhere. After getting mopped up, spray to keep the blood from staining my clothes, and ice, the phlebotomist scurrried to the cabinet and asked me what size I wear. "Are you giving me a T-shirt cause I'm still bleeding?" Apparently so.

SF with Sue

My sister Sue texts me Tuesday evening that they will be in San Francisco this weekend: Could we come in and play with her on Saturday? Of course. I text F, would you care to join us?

F comes home on Friday night and we left Saturday at 8.20 am, only 5 minutes after our planned departure time of 8.15. No traffic on the way in. In fact, I had to circle the Fairmont Hotel as we got there quicker than the 15 minutes we had texted after crossing the bay bridge. Sue wasn't down yet and of course there was no place to park. We did a drive by, almost colliding with a taxi cab, and Sue jumped in the car. I had bought tickets for us all for the post-impressionist exhibit at the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park. We were there and parked in the parking garage by probably about 9.45 am. First thing we did was go up to the observation tower. Luckily Ted knew to do this. The views were fantastic. It was Fleet Week and we could see the ships moving through the Golden Gate.
Our tickets were for the 11.30 slot, so we went outside and wandered around and into the sculpture garden.
Crowds were light, since most folks were at the Fleet Week festivities. I really enjoyed the exhibit. Had lunch at the cafe. Fortified we debated what to do next. Should we head for the water and watch the Blue Angels perform? After much debate, we decided to go to the Academy of Sciences. At 3 we went up on the green roof where we could see at least part of the Blue Angel performance. The weather was gorgeous, and the crowds light. It was a most fun and relaxing day. I could happily go back to either museum because there was so much that we didn't have time for in each one.
We got Sue back to her hotel at 5.30 as planned, and then headed home. That was when we ran into serious traffic. But eventually we made it to the freeway. Got Thai food for dinner here in town. We had already transferred a good deal of cash into the economy of SF. F headed back to Sac and we collapsed into bed at about 9.30.

Return to normalcy

Our lives have been on hold since last Friday, as we put everything else on hold to prepare talks to fill a 3 hour time slot in So Cal on Tues. Caught an 8.50 am flight down south, rented a car, drove for an hour, got lunch at a local taqueria and got to our room with 15 minutes to spare. Then went to the opening reception, drove back to Ted's sister's place and had a takeout dinner and an impromptu gathering of some of Ted's family.
Had a leisurely morning, returned the rental car, got on the plane, flew back up north, got to our car, drove for 45 minutes, and got home in time for lunch (ha ha it was 3.30pm). Planning to go out to the field tomorrow and feeling a little discombobulated now, as I try to get back to whatever I had been doing before this big interrruption.

Best Lemon Frozen Yogurt Recipe

What's a blog without a recipe or two?
F had wanted an ice cream maker after seeing her Aunt Tina's in action, so when she graduated from high school we got her one as a graduation gift. She used it mostly to make frozen yogurt, since ice cream is so high in fat. When she left to go to college, she was living in the dorms and left the ice cream maker behind, and T and I got in the habit of making frozen yogurt. Then her sophomore year she moved into an apartment, and so did her yogurt maker. We promptly bought one for ourselves, and we've used it all summer long.
Here is the recipe we concocted for lemon frozen yogurt. It's basically the same ratio as homemade lemonade, i.e. 1 part lemon to 1 part sugar to 4 parts water.
1. 2 C of plain nonfat yogurt (we like mountain high). Put a coffee filter in a sieve, dump in the yogurt and place over a bowl to drain in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Routinely the yogurt will lose a half or three-quarters of a cup of liquid. Dump the liquid.
2. 1/2 C of cream. Whip to stiff peaks.We use organic cream when we can get it.
3. 1/2 C Meyer lemon juice from the tree in our yard. This is about 2 lemons. Sieve to get rid of the seeds and excess pulp.
4. 1 C of sugar. Mix with the lemon juice.
5. Mix the yogurt and lemon/sugar mixture with the cream.
6. Pull the ice cream freezer out of the freezer and put it in the ice cream maker. Put in the paddle and put on the lid and turn it on.
7. Carefully pour the lemon/ cream/ sugar /yogurt mixture into the ice cream freezer and process 25 minutes or so.
8. Transfer into freezer proof container and promptly freeze.
9. Enjoy sparingly. I calculate about 100 calories per quarter cup!
My current project is to come up with a good recipe for brandy alexander frozen yogurt. My first attempt was good, but not right.