Omelet and Frog

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Well it isn't a frog omelet :-) It is a chives, bacon bit, fiesta cheese omelet that I made for my supper yesterday. It isn't as pretty as the one Frank made me the other week, but it was tasty. The chive blossom is edible too. It has a stronger oniony taste than the chive leaf. Yes, I like lots of pepper... especially seasoned pepper with its red and black pepper. It is colorful as well as tasty.

A few facts about Chives.

• In his 1806 book Attempt at a Flora (Försök til en flora), Retzius describes how chives are used with pancakes, soups, fish and sandwiches.
  
  
• Chives are one of the "fines herbes of French cuisine, which also include tarragon, chervil and/or parsley.
  
  
• Chives can also be dry-frozen without much impairment to its taste, giving home growers the opportunity to store large quantities harvested from their own garden.
  
  
• Retzius also describes how farmers would plant chives between the rocks making up the borders of their flowerbeds, to keep the plants free from pests such as Japanese Beetles.
  
  
• While the growing plant repels unwanted insect life, the juice of the leaves can be used for the same purpose, as well as fighting fungal infections, mildew and scab.
  
  
• Its flowers are attractive to bees, which are important for gardens with an abundance of plants in need of pollination.
  
  
• Chives containin numerous organisulplide compounds such as allyl sulfides and alkyl sulfoxides, they have a beneficial effect on the circulatory system by lowering the blood pressure. As chives are usually served in small amounts and never as the main dish, negative effects are rarely encountered, although digestive problems may occur following over-consumption
  
  
• Chives are cultivated both for its culinary uses as well as its ornamental value; the violet flowers are often used in ornamental dry bouquets. They are also edible.. before they seed.
  
  
• When harvesting, the needed number of stalks should be cut to the base.. During the growing season, the plant will continually regrow leaves, allowing for a continuous harvest.
  
  
• Romanian Gypsies have used chives in fortune telling.
  
  
• It was believed that bunches of dried chives hung around a house would ward off disease and evil.

So, more than you wanted to know. I love chives... they are pretty, tasty and easy to grow. I need easy things to grow. I didn't inherit a green thumb :-)


The cheese sure looks yellowy. Go ahead and right click and open in a new window to view larger.

Frank wasn't home for me to fix him an omelet. He was off with his Dad taking the tractor back down to Stubbs Acres (my parents old homestead). While his Dad bush-hogged Frank chased a sow back over to the neighbor's hog pen. One of the water faucets there broke, so something else to fix. Frank got tired... mostly from chasing the sow.

Frank went outside Sunday evening and saw something in one of the bird houses. A tree frog.








Now, wasn't he cute :-)

This morning I went to the orthopedist about my shoulder. More x-rays were taken. The doctor says I have two different problems... my shoulder and my ulna nerve at my elbow. That is the place that we call the funny bone and it isn't so funny. I will have a nerve test done to make sure that my elbow is the place the ulna nerve is damaged. There will be surgery for my shoulder.... a basic cleaning. I don't know when this will happen... you know one has to jump through the hoops of insurance. I had so hoped to skip this year in having surgery. I've had a surgery a year in 2006, 07 and 08 . I am thankful that I can be patched back together :-)

Frog - Rainy Day Memories

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So far we have had about an inch and a half of much needed rain. It has been the good kind of rain for the most part... the kind that has time to soak in. My chives look like they have grown six inches. The potato leaves have popped up in the garden pretty good. The carrot leaves are looking a lot like my hair :-D

The rain made me think of tree frogs. I think this one is a squirrel tree frog. It was sitting on one of the elephant ear plant leaves last year. I blew the focus on this one, so I tried to turn it into art :-D For a larger view right click on the picture and open in a new window or tab.



Rainy days bring back childhood memories. On rainy days we played card games. We played Smut, Gin Rummy, Spades, Spoons and War. There was a game we played with two decks of cards, but the name is not to be found in my brain today :-D We sometimes played Match-Game with the cards too.

We played a lot of Monopoly. I don't think we ever played by the rules. We played checkers and on the flip side was Backgammon, but I never got the hang of that game. Do you remember Chinese Checkers? That one was fun too. There were more board games... Clue and Casino Royale and a few I can't remember the name of.

When my sister and I were younger in age we would sometimes play bowling on the front porch... plastic milk bottle pins and plastic bowling balls. As we bowled and heard thunder in the distance we would recall the story of Rip Van Winkle and say that it was Rip Van Winkle up there bowling.

We did sometimes play in our rooms with our dolls and tea set. My sister and I also played jacks. My three brothers played with their soldiers and cowboy and indians in their room... yep five children divided amongst two very small bedrooms. My brothers were in really close quarters. The only times we were allowed to play in our rooms were when it was raining. Everything was put away before time to get ready for bed.

We also did jigsaw puzzles and crossword puzzles together. Sometimes we looked up crossword clues in our Funk & Wagnall encyclopedia set that we collected from the A&P grocery store. We also had a huge Webster dictionary... real thick and probably weighed in at 5 lbs. I think the pages of it were collected from one of the grocery stores too.

Now didn't me and my siblings have a great time on rainy days...



If you hold a four-leaf shamrock in your left hand at dawn on St. Patrick's Day you get what you want very much but haven't wished for. -- Patricia Lynch