snow day

In the morning we woke up to that…

so it seemed like a perfect day to try and bake homemade croissants. I've searched sites for many days and in the end came up with the recipe that combines three of the ones that looked not that difficult but in the mean time kind of authentic. The process is so LONG! I actually started it yesterday in the evening. And in the end of today we are going to have a hot chocolate with freshly baked croissants! Perfect conclusion to the weekend.

preparing the slab of butter for the laminating process

the dough is rising and the slab of butter is in between of layers of the dough ready for tourage

layers and layers after couple of "double turns"

gruyere and prosciutto di parma

Gucci, my little helper

final product!

The seeds are in!

Alright, it's been a really nasty winter, and the spring is just refusing to take over. Where do we live? Sigh…I still have a hope for the better weather to come, for the spring blooms, and summer vegetables. To speed up the process I started my seeds of eggplants and basil. That was 10 days ago. Right now I am very happy to report that all of my seeds sprouted very well, fast and plentiful. And as of today my eggplants are starting the first pair of true leaves, and the same with basil. And to top my excellent gardening mood about three days ago we had an absolutely beautiful weather, very sunny and almost warm (53F!). So we've had our first outdoor afternoon tea of the season on the patio. Lovely. Gucci was rolling in the dirt though, so the day ended with a cat bath in the kitchen sink and one very unhappy furry creature.

the cells are ready for the seeds

the seeds are soaking in a seed starter potion

eggplants are sprouting!!!!!

first outdoor tea of the season

little Gucci snoozing after his bath

Precious

My little baby niece is 1 week old today! Happy first week birthday, dearest!!!!!!!

Last year growing season update

I was not active on my blog during past several months. Lots of things happened, good, not so good, or just plain terrible. But in the end the family wins, its so strong, lots of love and support for and from all of the members. Couple of days ago we welcomed to this world my very own and only baby niece. What a great addition and gorgeous news! We are so happy and thankful. In the mean time it's March, time to start thinking and planning my garden for 2014 season. Just yesterday I received my seeds from rareseed.com, will try some new verieties of veggies. But for right now I want to remember our last year growing season with some pictures.

Hummingbird hovering over our garden fountain

mourning dove is quiet curious 

house finch resting on the wire

our beloved hummingbird, we have so many of them during summer 

Monet garden on the side yard

Mint is taking over the yard

beautiful "pillow talk" peony in full bloom

"lemon" tomatoes

summer squash

excellent "little fingers" eggplants, very tender, delicate flavor and taste

organically backyard grown veggies