Around the garden - May

Some new flowers and plants!

HEB poteet strawberry ice cream

If you live anywhere in Texas near a HEB, I highly suggest you run down to your nearest store and pick up this ice cream, made from the famous strawberries grown in Poteet, TX.  BK and I have been fighting over this all week.

Good day!

After a whole week at the vet's and emergency care, Link finally got to come home for the night!  We are so happy that he seems to be on the mend--thanks to the excellent care he's received from his doctors and nurses.  There are more tests and hurdles and day trips to the vet to get through but it sure was good to have him home last night.

Garden roses

This is our second year of garden roses and I love having fresh flowers in the house!  My favorites so far are St Cecilia and Queen of Sweden.

Favorite Friday Recipe: Curry Puffs

So in Singapore we have these delicious pastries called "curry puffs"--which is really quite self-explanatory--they are little puffs of pastry filled with curry.  Well imagine my surprise when I  learned from my good friend A that they are actually called samosas!  Granted, the Singaporean versions are still a little different in terms of the dough and especially the surprise slice of hard boiled egg in them (my favorite!).  I had some leftover curry this week and decided to mash up the potatoes, boil some eggs and bake them all in puff pastry (easy way out).  They were sooooo delicious and reminded me of great memories of buying these from Old Chang Kee and eating them as an after school snack with my dad. 

Favorite Friday Recipe: Cauliflower soup

This delicious soup comes via the Pioneer Woman.  I love cauliflower and this soup was perfect for one of our surprisingly chilly April evenings.   I cut out a lot of the butter and dairy from the original recipe and added more vegetables, but if you're looking for a good time, the original recipe is here.

Cauliflower soup (with slight modifications)

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 whole Onion, Finely Diced
• Half a bag of baby carrots, Finely Diced
• 3 stalks Celery, Finely Diced
• 1 whole Cauliflower Head (roughly Chopped)
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, Chopped
• 2 quarts Low-sodium Chicken Broth Or Stock
• 4 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
• 1.5-2 cups 2% Milk
• 2 teaspoons To 4 Teaspoons Salt, To Taste
• 1/2 cup (heaping) Sour Cream, Room Temperature (optional)

Directions:

• In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons butter 
• Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, or until it starts to turn brown
• Add the carrots and celery and cook an additional couple of minutes
• Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine
• Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes
• After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer
• In a medium saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter 
•  Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine
• Add flour-milk mixture slowly to the butter, whisking constantly
• Add mixture to the simmering soup
• Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes
• Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary
• Just before serving, place the sour cream in bottom of bowls and stir into soup (this is optional--it tasted great with or without it) 
• Serve immediately.

Bearded Irises

I think these bearded irises were really popular 30-40 years ago because each spring, you can spot these welcome visitors in the yards of almost every house on our street.