Because is Not a Reason

Had to steal this from Jim Zeilinski's Facebook page.
To give credit where it's due, he stole it off of Dave Hart's page.

No matter how outlandish, you've got to believe in something, or else all is naught and existence dissolves.

At least believe in second helpings.

Another Walk

Perfect day for a noontime walk.

One of the neighbors had the sprinkler going.  It was barely 50 degrees outside.  Why, oh, why?  Must have been some winter grass, it was a stand-out green.  Wonder how it will handle the next round of frost tonight. But it did make tiny rainbows.

With all of the trees now bare, I had a excellent view of the lush tussies of jade mistletoe, its every bough heavy with the pearls of berries.   Makes me wonder:   if people are so keen to affix a desiccated sample to a doorway during the holidays for the sole purpose of stealing a kiss,  why are not masses of people heavily smooching beneath oak trees crowned with the most vibrant of specimens?    I might need to start a reform campaign.

I went northward on the newest Greenway section.  I walked only as far as the bridge over Aldridge Creek to St. Stephen's Episcopalian Church.   The flowing water was warmer than the weather belied.   Shoals of minnows crowded facing upstream in the currents.   I say minnows, but they could have been fingerling trout for all I knew. One was at least six inches long, bossy and speckled brown.

Crickets chirp on the far bank, winged nymphs dart from bamboo.

Not a turtle or frog to be spied. All good amphibians gone to brumate.

Birds.  There were birds!  Two hawks emerged from the tree line, wheeling about each other, for a moment.  The red cedar was filled with blue drupes and the usual quarrels of starlings.  Robins dug and barked in the leaf litter.  My eyes could barely catch the running stitch of finches in the reeds.  As I headed back to the south, a sight caught my eyes-- a solitary heron upon a rock and framed by the trees of the creekside classroom trail.

The sun was bright, the wind was light, the deeper waters scintillated and sparkled. I paused, allowing my mind to be born off and returned.

Despite nature's surround, the man-made, manipulated, still abounded.  Pumpkins waited in uncharacteristic aquatic patches. Below the Hobbs Road bridge lay a computer monitor, the CRT kind.

Nurture does affect nature.  Witness: this short pine, who had to compete with its fraternal twin lightpost.

While nature always affects the nurture.  I will return to this corner and collect more windfall hickory nuts and learn to open then.

Providence provides a banquet for the senses.

All we must do is receive.

Cooking Something New

Remember those "Low Country Cookies" I mentioned in "The Wrap"?

I gave them a try, and my women's group really liked them. Like me, they were all amazed that the filling had coconut-- all except Barbara W. who said she noticed it right away. ("Oh, I'm sorry. that's a bad thing, " says Christi; "No, no! I like coconut, that's why I noticed it." Well OK, then, it's all good.)

I should have made them a day ahead of time, and let them set over night. I also should have gone with my instincts and lined it with individual cracker rectangles since I was making it of a morning. (Also decided to add vanilla to the filling; might ought to have stirred that in with the coconut, but it's only because I'm worried it might have interfered with the soft set.) If you use mini chocolate chips instead of chopped pecans, definitely sprinkle them on top (hot mix, got it?) I also wasn't sure if non-canned coconut would be acceptable, but since I couldn't find canned coconut, I used a bag of coconut pulverized up with a can of coconut milk-- worked well.

If I'm going to talk about it, I guess I'd better share.

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Low Country Cookies


Ingredients:
Cookie part
1 (16 oz) box graham crackers
reserve about 13 -15 to create cookie
crush enough to create 1 cup crumbs

Filling
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (or three 1/2 ounce cans)

Topping
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
3 tablespoons milk


Line the bottom of a  13x9-inch pan with whole graham crackers.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and milk together, then add to butter mixture. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add nuts, coconut and graham cracker crumbs. Spread over the crackers in the pan. Top with another layer of whole graham crackers.

To make the topping, beat all of the ingredients together and spread over top layer of crackers.

Chill until filling is firm and then cut into squares.

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Yep. Coconut that escapes all but the most discriminating palates.
Bring on the yum.