Saturday, June 27, 2009

Gingerbread cookies

A few days ago, I really wanted to eat some gingerbread cookies -- so I made some! These are probably my favorite cookies and they are really easy to make. The recipe is from the Mrs. Fields cookie cook book that we always used at home. Making these reminded me of Christmas and the smell when they are baking is so nice and spicy. I was going to use little red hots (cinnamon imperials) for decorations, but I have concluded that these candies absolutely do not exist in Miami! What!? I searched at least three stores for them and nothing! Also, when I was trying to find molasses at the grocery store, the lady who worked there didn't even know what it was...hmmmmm...anyway, I eventually found molasses, but no red hot candies!

Ingredients:

Batter being mixed:

Dough ready to be put in the refrigerator:

Cutting out the cookies:

Finished cookies:

Om, nom, nom:

Here is the recipe:
Mrs. Field's Gingerbread Men

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 cup salted butter, softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

Pre-heat oven to 325°F.

Whisk together flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a medium bowl.

In large bowl with an electric mixer cream butter and sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg and molasses, and beat on medium speed until smooth. Scrape bowl and add the flour mixture. Blend on low speed until combined; do not overmix.

Separate dough into 2 balls and flatten into disks. Wrap each disk lightly in plastic wrap or a plastic bag, and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

On floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. With floured cookie cutters cut into gingerbread men. Gather scraps and re-roll dough until all dough is used. Place on ungreased baking sheets 1/2 inch apart. Cook for 9 - 11 minutes.

Yield:2 1/2 dozen 6 inch cookies
3 1/2 dozen 4 inch cookies

Source:Mrs. Field's Cookie Book

Monday, June 22, 2009

Colombian potato soup


Carlos made Sunday soup last night and I think this is my favorite soup that he makes: Colombian potato soup! It is a thick, creamy soup made with three different varieties of potatoes: Yukon gold, Peruvian yellow, and small yellow Colombian potatoes. The potatoes are boiled together in a chicken stock until they are creamed all together in a mush. Once done, we added shredded boiled chicken and a splodge of whipping cream on top -- it is a really rich soup, but so good!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Happy (almost) Father's Day!

Yay, my dad called me yesterday to tell me that he got the Father's Day package that I sent him and he really liked the gifts! Woo-hoo -- I had a fun time making them and I am glad that you like them dad!

For my dad's present, I designed a business card for him/his business. I drew a picture of the Alaska pipeline (since my dad is a pipeline safety/environmental consultant). This picture is on the backside of the cards and all his information and a smaller, square pipeline logo is on the front. I made the cards through MOO (I love them!) and I think they turned out pretty great. Here is a picture of the pipeline that I used for the cards:

I also made my dad a stuffed toy/voodoo doll version of his dog Remlington (his real name is Remington/Remy, but I call him Remlington). I think the doll ended up resembling Gremlington (I also call him that) pretty closely!

Happy Father's Day (tomorrow) dad!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Anolis equestris


Look at what was hanging out in the tomato plant on the balcony this morning -- a Cuban night anole (Anolis equestris)! These guys are native to Cuba, but have been introduced to Miami-Dade county and I've seen them around the neighborhood and UM campus. They are huge (up to 50 cm long!) and very bitey and territorial. Don't muck with them!

He also might be why we don't have a lot of tomato fruits on our vines -- Carlos saw this anole try to eat a green tomato (it was in his mouth, but too hard for him to bite and eat). Hey, stop eating our sad tomatoes you frugivore!

This marks the third species of anole that I have recorded in our balcony garden so far (the other species I've seen were the brown anole, Anolis sagrei, and the native green anole, Anolis carolinensis). Green anoles are my favorites!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Garden peppers


The peppers in the balcony garden are doing extremely well in the heat and humidity of the Miami summer (in stark contrast to the sad, sad tomatoes). This is the latest harvest produced by Carlos' two pepper plants and he is very proud of them (I don't eat peppers -- too hot for me!). Even though I don't eat them, I like looking at the productivity of these plants!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

My blog is 2!

Ack, I completely forgot my blog's 2nd birthday! On June 6, 2007 I started this blog while working in La Selva, Costa Rica -- two years already? Sheesh, tempus fugit. Happy belated birthday Rowdy Mouse blog!

Monday, June 15, 2009

It's a Daphne bonanza!

Remember the Daphne kitty doll that I made and sent to my sister? Well, she got it, had Daphne pose with the doll, and sent me pictures! Here they are:

Awwwww, such a nice, well-mannered kitty!

Hey, why are you sniffing that innocent little doll?

Oh NOOOOOOOOO! Why???

That's better -- such good friends now. I shall ignore that look of doom...

Hi, how did you get up there?

What do you have to say for yourself Daphne?

What a nice kitty!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Fruit and Spice Park

Yesterday, Carlos and I made a 1/2 hour trip down south to visit the Fruit and Spice Park. I had visited the Fruit and Spice Park a couple times before and it was really fun, so we decided to take advantage of the nice (but hot) weather. The Fruit and Spice Park is located in Homestead, an agricultural community south of Miami and is pretty out of the way -- which I like!

Upon arrival, we entered the gift shop to pay our entrance fees and eat some fruit samples. You cannot pick any fruits within the park (they are pretty serious about this), but you can eat anything that has fallen on the ground. There are many fruits that have been prepared by the staff and ready to sample. Some of the fruits I tried were: Cecropia peltata, ice cream bean (Inga sp.), hog plum (Spondias purpurea), cherimoya, papaya, lychee (Litchi chinensis), Everglades tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) , white sapote (Cassimiroa edulis), and sapodilla (Manilkara zapota). There were MANY other plants fruiting, but only those that I mentioned were available for sampling.

We wandered around for a while until 11 am, when the first tram tour started. We noticed huge jackfruits (Artocarpus heterophyllus) as big as my head ripening on tree trunks. Jackfruit is the flavor of Juicy Fruit gum! We also saw many mamey sapote (Pouteria sapota) and Pachira aquatica fruiting. Carlos and I were the only people there to take the tour and it was pretty nice. A tram took us through the paved trails and our guide pointed out many cool fruiting plants, herbs, and spices.

After our private tour, Carlos and I wandered around, eating things off the ground. Some of the fruits we ate were: longans (Dimocarpus longan), lychees, Everglades tomatoes, peaches, mint, Stevia, and garlic chives. It was pretty fun sampling all the things while walking around. You are advised to only eat what you can identify (duh!) and since I am a half-time botanist (the other half of the time I am a zoologist!), I got to eat many things!

The Fruit and Spice Park was a fun day trip out of town and I should go there more often since the fruits available to sample change with the season!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Finished ETSY banner

Woo-hoo! I was on campus today so I went to the library and scanned the page in my sketchbook with my "Rowdy Mouse" font. It was really easy to color in and layer onto the banner for my ETSY shop. I think it is all done and I like the color combination a lot.

Hopefully, the shop will be up and running within the next couple of weeks -- I guess I need to get painting!

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

ETSY shop & watercolor paper


Today I went to the art store and bought a couple of (huge) sheets of watercolor paper. I am working on starting an ETSY shop, selling small watercolor paintings of animals. I am still working on all the start-up stuff, but I will hopefully have everything up and running soon. Maybe I can even make a little extra income!

I have wanted to start an ETSY store for a while, but I haven't had the extra time to put into it until this summer. Here is the banner that I've made for my shop:

It isn't quite finished (I still need to add the text with my shop name), but I like it. I will post more information on my ETSY shop, once I get closer to opening it.

Monday, June 08, 2009

Asian snacks -- Blueberry candies


Keeping with the theme of blueberries, I bought these hard blueberry candies from the Asian market many weeks ago. They are still in the cabinet, so they aren't that great. They don't taste much like blueberries (though blueberry candies rarely taste accurate) and instead have a strong medicinal flavor. The cough-drop taste is kind of gross and when I chewed up the candy, it is very sticky and got stuck in my teeth. Blech! I will stick with the real fruits!

Saturday, June 06, 2009

Blueberries!


It must be blueberry season since they were on sale at the grocery store a few days ago. Carlos and I usually walk to the grocery store to get a few fresh items (fruits and vegetables) every three/four days or so and we bought 2 little boxes of blueberries on our last trip. Usually berries of any kind are super-expensive here in Florida (why...?) so we might stock up on more since these blueberries disappeared in less than 2 days! I ate them like a grizzly bear in the spring (according to Carlos). BLUEBERRRRIIIIEEES!

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Daphne doll


The other day, I was thinking about kitties (a common occurrence) and I was suddenly struck by the urge to make a little felt kitty doll of my sister's cat, Daphne to send to her as a present (to my sister, not Daphne). It is a pretty stylized version of a cat (no tail or appendages), but it has Daphne's pink nose and grey markings. The doll is ~25 cm long so it's not that big, but I really like how it turned out and I think it resembles little Daphne. I just hope Shannon doesn't use this as a voodoo doll...

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Summer & Fall travels

Wow, it is June already -- I hate when time flies by so fast! I was reviewing my summer/early fall travel schedule and I am going to be all over the place:

July & August = Two weeks in Germany to attend the Annual ATBC (Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation) conference
September = Family trip to Nevada and California
October = UCSB college buddy reunion in Washington D.C.

I am so excited for all of these trips and I will have to take a ton of pictures to post about each one. As the end of July gets closer, I will have more information on where I am traveling within Germany. Right now I will definitely be visiting Frankfurt, Marburg (this is where the conference is), some castles along the Rhine, and Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria. Woo-hoo!