More spring flowers - May 1, 2011

Some flowers around the neighbourhood.

Tulips at the Empress Hotel.

I didn't get any good pictures of the double cherry (?) blossoms this year... in fact I nearly missed them altogether as the trees are starting to go into leaf already.

Glorious tulips

April 29, 2011

We had to zip into Butchart Gardens for a few moments. I hadn't intended on taking any photos but outside the shops were these gorgeous tulips. What colour!

Of course, one doesn't have to go to Butchart Gardens to see tulips.

Even around town there are some eye-popping displays as seen in a yard (above) in Oak Bay.

Two types of bread

Whole wheat bread

I have yet to make a loaf of whole wheat bread that I like, but when 'M' told me about this video on the internet I decided to give it another shot. The surprising thing (to me anyway) about this recipe is that it uses all whole wheat flour, no white flour. I liked this video for a number of reasons:

1. The recipe and the methods used are new to me.
2. It shows how to knead. Even though my Mother made bread ever since I can remember, I didn't pay attention to how she did it (!).
3. The mystery of why I don't like my whole wheat bread may have been solved.
4. I learned that cooling racks aren't needed - the loaf can be simply plopped crossways on top of the pan!

The bread turned out nice looking.

I didn't like the heavy denseness or the taste though. In comparing my loaf to those in the video I noticed that mine was considerably darker. For the first time I realized that my flour was 'whole grain' wheat flour and perhaps this is different from 'regular' wheat flour. Eureka - maybe that has been the problem all along.

It may sound odd, when I didn't care for the bread, to chalk this up as a very positive baking experience, but it was. I look forward to trying it again with different flour.

Hawaiian potato bread

This recipe from the Pillsbury baking book is one I've been meaning to try for some time. First, I had to buy mashed potato flakes. (They still make such a thing? Why, yes, they do.) Another ingredient is pineapple juice.

This bread is baked in cake tins. I tried one loaf with the topping of butter, sugar, flour and nutmeg as called for in the recipe (foreground), and one without (background). I think this picture shows that it suits the topping. By the way, I didn't notice a nutmeg taste with the topping.

Was it supposed to turn out this flat? I haven't found a picture of what it should look like to make a comparison.

The recipe suggests this bread be eaten with butter and pineapple marmalade, and tea or coffee. That makes sense. It seems more of a dessert sort of bread rather than a sandwich type, although it was fine toasted. This bread is soft and quite moist which makes me think it could go bad quickly. I probably won't make this bread again but it was fun to try once.

Spring flowers

Just some cheery-looking springtime flowers seen around town.

Easter cookies

Easter was another excuse to have fun with cookie decorating. I got most of the design ideas off the internet. Again I used 'the best rolled sugar cookie' recipe from allrecipes.com because people seem to like these cookies (and again I ran out of time and had to rush the job). As for icing, I didn't make royal icing. Raw egg whites don't appeal to me and no meringue powder was on hand so I just mixed icing sugar with skim milk and added a tiny amount of almond extract.

Most of the cookies went to neighbours and I packaged up a few for dear ol' Dad.

Easter Lilies April 19, 2011

The white fawn lilies have been blooming in Beacon Hill Park for a couple of weeks.

Butchart Gardens April 7, 2011

I probably photograph this same view every year, but I like the backlit pots of tulips along the entranceway.

Pond in the Italian Garden.

Near the Rose Garden

The Sunken Garden

Flowers & Kites April 3, 2011

Flowers around town

Wild 'Easter lilies' and trillium in bloom.

Kites at Clover Point 

Kites certainly have changed over the years.

Half a person?

Here comes the other half. We never did see the two parts join.

But by far the most interesting to us were these "Rev" - Revolution Kites, which were operated with great precision.