My Foodie Adventure....Cotton Candy Grapes...YUM!

I have to say that I did this when I was young...My parents had this sugar bowl and when I had cereal in the morning I kept scooping sugar into it...I know they were trying hard to get me to eat healthy food in the morning, but I just couldn't stand breakfast foods, and sugar just made everything better.....
My foodie adventure this past  month was trying Cotton Candy Grapes...I had never heard of grapes that taste like cotton candy...I didn't really believe that they would taste like cotton candy either....

If you look at the grapes they look normal....But when you taste them....Well they really do taste like cotton candy...Which is one of my favorite things to eat....I had a lot of fun giving people a grape and watching them react to the taste...There is this look of surprise that they get when they finally taste the cotton candy flavor.
My daughter said after her first taste...Please get  me a whole bowl....She likes sugar as much as I do...

So I had to do a comparison of the grapes and cotton candy...well It was a good reason to go out and buy more of each...The sad thing is these grapes are seasonal and you can't buy them all year long...It used to be you could only get cotton candy if you went to the fair, but now you can get it at a store...But I like the fresh made at the fair better....
The question is how??? How did they get the grapes to taste like cotton candy?  My daughter thought that they coated the outside of the grape with a cotton candy flavor...My son thought that they used special flavored water to water the grape vines...
But from reading articles it sounds like it was how they combined different types of grapes....I'm not sure I totally understand the science behind it all, but I'm sure glad they made them...If you want to try these grapes you need to be at the store when they come in because they sell out really fast.
What new food have you tried?
G.G.
specialty grapes
cotton candy grapes

Garden Girls Foodie Adventure...Trying a Blood Orange.....

Most of my foodie blogs will be about trying new fruits and vegetables...So last week I tried a Blood Orange.

From the outside the Blood Orange looks just like a normal orange to me...

But once it is cut up ....Well that's a different story...The red color is a natural mutation of the orange fruit, this was not some crazy science project.    It has a blood red color because the fruit contains the presence of Anthocyanins.. a family of antioxidant pigments common to fruits and flowers.  It is supposed to have a mild raspberry flavor...to  me it tasted very much like an orange.  But I could just not get past the blood red color.  Good thing I only bought one.  So if you can get past the strange color and you like oranges you should try this.   I will stick with the original orange thank you. 
So have you tried any new foods in the last few weeks.  Let me know.  Do you like Blood Oranges?
Related sites
Blood Oranges
Blood Oranges a blog by someone who likes them
Blood Orange Recipes.
Have a great day.
G.G.

Temple Square Spring Flowers....

Spring at Temple Square is filled with Tulips...I have to say this is probably my favorite photo from my latest trip into the city...I love the way the sun is coming through the flowers...this will be a future card, and perhaps I'll also frame it and display it in my house...

I thought these yellow flowers were very pretty...I'm not sure what they are, so that will be my next task, to find out their name...I'm collecting flower photos as a new project is to put together a Meaning of Flowers photo dictionary with a photo of every flower....so if you know what this flower is let me know.

So I found this one huge flower in the middle of all these tulips, I'm not sure if it is a double tulip, or what it is, but it looked really interesting.

I love walking around and looking at all the different flower beds...I could spend all day walking the gardens at Temple Square.

I hope you enjoyed the photos...There is a book you can get that explains how they plan the gardens, and what the favorite plants are.  It is an interesting garden book, very technical...If  you want to reproduce their garden techniques this a book to use, I liked the last half that tells more about the plants used.
G.G.

Garden Girls Foodie Adventure....Trying Artichoke....

I will be the first to admit that I'm a very picky eater...When I read the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons and he is making faces about his food, I think that is me!  I made such horrible faces as a child that my father switched my seat so that when he made something that I hated..Usually Pea Soup, he did not have to watch me...Even now when I make something my children do not like to eat, nothing they do can annoy me as I could make a gagging sound and face that could top them.

I too love dessert and snacks...But I have decided that I need to try healthy food...and my new job is a place where healthy food is all around me. This past week I took the brave step of trying a new food.

Artichoke...
I'm not sure why people are so into eating Artichoke...But I have had many people tell me they love it and they have told me how to cook it, and what they like to dip it in.  Here is the before it's cooked state...

I searched the internet for simple Artichoke recipes and decided to steam it in water with lemon,bay leaf and garlic.The above photo is the steamed Artichoke.   People told me of two things they like to dip it in, melted butter (now that is something I like!) or Mayo...

I liked it best in the butter...But who wouldn't??...I'll admit that it wasn't that bad...I never got to the Heart of it though...People say the heart is the best...And eating a vegetable heart is far more appealing to me than animal heart any day...But the whole getting the choke off the heart was too much....so someday I'll have a friend who is better at this eating good food stuff prepare Artichoke hearts for me... One thing I learned in this crazy food adventure is Artichokes are the flower of a Thistle plant....

And because I tried something new and healthy I had a good treat...Strawberry shortcake...YUM!
So what healthy food do you think I should try next?  Have you tried Artichoke?  What is your favorite way to eat it?
G.G.

Crazy Hens and Chicks lady...Part two...My out door experiment...

All winter I have been growing Hens and Chicks in my house in little pots.  My family has thought that I have gone crazy.  But really I do have a garden plan for all these plants.  I want plant them around my window wells.  Here is the first finished planting.

I have actually bought a bunch of different succulents to plant around the window wells to see which ones do the best. 

I'm also working on putting Sedum around the edge of the house..This is a section that I have cleared out but have not yet planted anything.

This is a small section of my garden that I planted last year..The Hens and Chicks did really well in this spot, and I'm hoping that by the end of the summer I will have the same results for the new areas that I have planted.  What I love about these plants is they don't need a lot of attention or water.

I have to say that I am enjoying my western garden adventure...I really like the Sedum and Hens and Chicks.
The weather forecast is for rain this week...So my next adventure will be starting my seeds..I'm going to be starting Shasta Daisies and Black Eyed Susan's as I have a new garden idea for my back yard.  In another month I'm also going to start some Sunflowers too... What are you doing in your garden this year?
G.G.

Sherlock Holmes The BBC Series...A STUDY IN ADULT BULLYING....

I absolutely love the Sherlock Holmes BBC shows.  Being the mother of a child who has been bullied because he is smart makes me see one continuous theme in these shows.  Sherlock is a bullied adult.  As I watch these shows I often think of all that you see in the media of trying to get children to stop bulling each other.  What I find interesting is that we as adults seem to think we can go into schools and tell children to stop picking on each other and that somehow they are going to stop.  And yet we refuse to see that we are their examples and we have yet to figure out how to stop picking on each other.  And that we have examples of people being bullied in our TV shows and movies...

From the very beginning of the Sherlock shows you learn that Sherlock is no ordinary person.  He seems to be able to figure things out that other people just don't... Some people say he is a high functioning sociopath...Others say that Sherlock is autistic...Perhaps he is a genius... John Watson is told by many who know him (Sherlock) to find a new friend.  The police use him, and yet think, at some point, they will be faced with figuring out who Sherlock has murdered. 

As you watch the shows, and read the original stories, you find that Sherlock has always been picked on.  He was picked on by his peers and by his older brother who happens to be even smarter than he is.  It seems that through out time really smart or unique people either make friends or get picked on.  What I love  is that Sherlock doesn't care...Sherlock is going to study and investigate crimes and do what he likes no matter what anyone else thinks of him.  I think this is what we need to teach our children.  We need to stop pretending we are going to stop bullying...And start teaching children that it's OK to be who you are, and to give them the support they need to survive being bullied.  My son, as a child, was told that he needed to change, that how he acted was the reason he got bullied.  He had to go to the school counselor to play games to learn how to leave the "Land of Loneliness"...He was the problem because he liked to read books kids his age didn't like..  He was the problem because he was really smart and the school wouldn't challenge him... As I listen to things Sherlock says in these shows I hear my young son...'My brain is like a computer and I only put what I want into it'...My Son reminds me of Sherlock Holmes sometimes...His passion is art and he is constantly looking for ways to express himself through this...I remember the school counselor calling me and saying your son seems lost in his own world sometimes...I thought...yes, he is bored and so he makes his own worlds up, then he draws them..

Like Sherlock my son decided not to care what the bullies thought..  He eventually figured out how to defend himself and now has a lot of friends.  I think being bullied actually made him a stronger person.  He doesn't look back and think 'poor me'.. He says that being bullied helped him become who he is today.

 We as adults need to see that we also can be bullies.  I know that there have been times that I have been unkind, and I have worked hard to think about how I treat others and if I become that unkind person I try to go back and make it right.  There are also time where I have been treated unkindly and I have to decide to let it go.  We all need to look around more and see how those around us are being treated.  Do we stand up for those we know are being hurt or do we look the other way?  Bullying doesn't just happen in schools, it happens to all ages, and if we think it doesn't then we are probably looking the other way.

  As much as I like the Sherlock character if I could meet someone from this television series I would love to meet the person who made them...The mind that put together these TV series...This person I would think has to be pretty brilliant...The things that he puts into the Sherlock character are so cool.. I have told my husband I really like people with brilliant minds...I like to see how they see the world, because they see so much...

Here are a few other shows that I find have a bullying theme in them...And the wonderful thing of each is that the bullied person becomes the hero..That is what we need to teach our children who are bullied..Be who you are despite it all and you may just become the hero..The brilliant scientist..The celebrated writer..The greatest animator there ever was..The famous film maker...

This is about the bullied smart girl who gets her second chance at High School...And finally gets that first kiss...

The young weak boy who is beat up on every street corner but never gives up his dream.. becomes the super hero that saves the world...

The brilliant young boy who never quite connects with his dad, ends up realizing that saving people and peace are better than building the next best weapon (although his suit is a weapon, isn't it?)...I love all the things that they can build in these movies. Wouldn't it be great to be that smart?  Well I think it would be...  While I wish that we could get rid of bullies, I think what we really need to do is help those who are bullied see that they are good just the way they are and help them find happiness...
G.G.

I'm A Crazy Hen's And Chickens Lady...Part One...My New Garden Adventure...

Last fall I decided that I would grow Hen's and Chickens in my house so that I could plant them around the window wells of my house when spring arrived.   What started out as a few pots of Hen's and Chickens...

became a bunch of pots of Hen's and Chickens....

That became a house full of Hen's and Chickens......

In part two I'll show you what my plan is, and then as the garden season continues I'll let you know how they survive...I'm actually a little sad that it is almost time to plant them out side.  The last photo is of the ones I planted outside last year...My daughter counted and said I have 26 plants in my house...She thinks that is enough for the garden, I keep saying that I think I need more.  ...

If you want to learn about crafts you can do with Succulents this is a great book to read...It also tells you how to take care of them...The Author also has a blog site which I need to check out... 
Happy Gardening.
G.G.