Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Dad's Amazing Brandied Shrimp

No, not my Dad's shrimp recipe, Ingrid Hoffmann's Dad. Ingrid of the Food Networks Simply Delicioso cooking show.

I know I sound like a broken record, but this was so quick and easy to make. I think I was able to complete everything, start to finish, in maybe 25 minutes. That included measuring all the ingredients, taking the tails off the shrimp, cooking, plating AND taking photos.

For some reason I had a lot of sauce left. Might be because I had a bit more shrimp than called for so I put in a bit more of the sauce ingredients. The photo that accompanied the recipe looked like the sauce had been cooked down quite a bit and that there was more of a glaze on the shrimp. Didn't matter. Mr. L loved the sauce. So much so that he used the remaining sauce as a dressing for the salad that went with dinner. I'm thinking this dish would work great over rice or noodles. I think it would work either way (cook down to more of a glaze or have more sauce). Hmm...dipping bread into any leftover sauce sounds good too.

Simple, very quick, very tasty dish. Except for fresh oregano and parsley I usually always have the ingredients for this on hand so I can see this becoming a regular meal especially on busy nights.

This came from the February 2008 issue of Fitness Magazine.

BRANDIED SHRIMP

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon Tabasco (or more to taste)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons brandy
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the shrimp, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and some salt and pepper. Let the mixture simmer until the shrimp are partially cooked and beginning to curl, about 2 minutes. Sir in the ketchup and oregano and simmer 2 more minutes, or until the shrimp are opaque and just cooked through. Add the brandy and parsley; stir to combine. Remove from heat and serve. Makes 4 servings at 253 calories each.

Note: I used shrimp that had already been peeled and deveined, all I had to do was take off the tails. I of course, used more Tabasco. I used organic sugar free ketchup.

Berries With Sorbet Eggs

This is another one of those really really simple recipes that takes little work but has good results. It was perfect for a summer night after temps had been in the 100's for a few days.

We used Mango Sorbet instead of the lemon sorbet requested as that's what we had on hand. I figure you can pretty much use any sorbet, and hey, change up the fruit and sorbet flavors according to what you have available. I was thinking with some blueberries, raspberries and some Pina Colada sorbet, you'd have a perfect red, white and blue dessert for today.

With a little extra effort (adding the mint, getting that sorbet into an egg shape, plating in a martini glass) this would make a quick but nicely presented dessert after any summer meal.

I admit I was a bit challenged on making my sorbet into an egg shape.  I don't think Mr. L even noticed.

This recipe came out of the April 14, 2009 issue of Woman's Day magazine.

BERRIES WITH SORBET EGGS

1 pint strawberries, diced
1/2 pint raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
2 pints lemon sorbet
Fresh mint springs for garnish (optional)

Toss strawberries, raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl until evenly coated. Let stand 20 minutes until juicy.

Spoon berry mixture onto serving plates; top with a scoop of lemon sorbet. If using mint, lightly coat small sprigs with water, sprinkle with a little additional sugar and garnish plate. Serves 8. 124 calories each.

Note: This served four for us.

Note: Used Mango Sorbet. Left out mint.

Note: There was quite a bit of "juice" in the berry mixture. I didn't use it for the photo but it was tasty juice and went into the remaining desserts.

Note: I remember that to make sorbet into an "egg" shape you take two spoons and sort of mold the sorbet between the two to get your shape. I tried. I failed. Didn't change the taste of the dish at all.

Small Plates - July 2, 2009

BACON FLAVORED LIP BALM- Why? Well because it's bacon flavored lip balm! Can't say it's something I'll use on a regular basis and Mr. L said he loves me and he loves bacon but he's not sure he wants to kiss me when I wearing this. On the other hand, my kitten thinks I'm The Bomb when I have this on! To find out more about it go here. And yes, I already own all the flavors of Bacon Salt and Baconnaise is on it's way.

PEZ - Over the years, I've collected my fair share of Pez dispensers. I don't think I've ever held a garage sale either, without selling a few of them as they are more of a 'fun for a bit' kind of item. I still think I have the Yoda one around somewhere though, hard to get rid of that one. I've always said I needed to get up to see the Pez Museum in Burlingame, but alas, have not found the time. Maybe I should find time soon. It seems Pez has taken umbrage because they think the use of a piece of art outside the museum (a giant Pez dispenser with a snowman head) is trademark infringement. Pez already had forced the museum to change their name so that folks wouldn't think that it was run by the Pez company. For more info go here. I think I need to visit the Pez Museum on the same trip I visit the Barbie Museum!

FANCY FAST FOOD - Okay, if you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that I enjoy fast food just as much as I enjoy gourmet food. Now someones gone and made my fast food gourmet. No, I'm not talking about an overpaid chef making their own version of a Taco Bell burrito. I'm talking someone actually taking a Taco Bell Burrito and making it into Tacobellini. Serious Eats led me to this awesome blog, Fancy Fast Food. We are so going to try to make Spicy Chicken Sushi from some Popeye's chicken!

HOW MANY CALORIES ARE HEADED TO MY THIGHS?  - Of course next time I go into a Popeye's for some chicken, the cold hard reality of just how many calories that meal will cost me will be smacking me in the face. In California, a law went into effect yesterday that requires food chains with more than 20 units to either offer a brochure when you walk up detailing nutrition data on all standard menu items, or they must post calorie counts for those items on menus and menu boards. By the start of 2011, all chains with 20 or more places must post those calories on menus and menu boards. The first time someone in line with me at KFC makes a comment that the two Extra Crispy Chicken Breasts I just ordered with a biscuit and mashed potatoes will put more than 1290 calories on my butt because it says so on the menu board, will find themselves dipped in chicken batter! For more info go here (more info on having calories listed on menus, not on my butt). Several other states will be following suit soon so don't think staying away from California will spare you the embarrassment of everyone knowing your quick fast food chinese meal of Fried Rice, Orange Chicken and one Egg Roll cost you 1190 calories! (Calories from Panda Express nutritional info).

Grandma Rosies Garbanzo Stew

I'm calling this 'Garbanzo Stew' so as not to confuse people, but honestly, in my family it's just called 'Garbanzo'. I'm sure we garnered some interesting looks when we went grocery shopping by saying  "Mom are we having Garbanzo for dinner?". People probably thought we were a bit crazy by getting excited about eating a bean for a meal, but Garbanzo's the only name I've ever known this dish as.

In wanting to find a dish to make for the Family Recipe event, I came across one mom had included in the Filipino recipes she has written down for the family. Except the directions were more like my mom and Grandma cook, not a lot of detail (she never uses recipes when cooking family dishes anymore).  While the original instructions had ingredients like "tomato sauce" or directions like "saute onions" I wanted a bit more information such as "how much tomato sauce" and "do I saute in oil and how cooked are the onions supposed to be?". I was on the phone several times with my mom while making this dish trying to clarify exactly what needed to be done. And I had to laugh when I took a sample to her to try and she mentioned that maybe I didn't add enough water to make soup. Water? There was no water listed!

But a recipe like this is exactly why I want to participate in the Family Recipes: Memories of Family, Food and Fun. I want to be able to not only make old family dishes, but be able to pass the directions on to far flung family that might not be local enough to learn at my mom's side (my Grandma Rosie passed away many years ago). I did ask my mom to give me some background regarding this dish and this is what she wrote:

"I don't  know when I started eating garbanzos cooked this way.  Probably before WW II.  But my memories when going back that far are so dim now.  When we got to the states Grandma Wing started cooking it.  Everybody loves this dish in my family.  It is so easy to make....your Grandma Rosie learned by watching Grandma Wing cook it.  She wrote down the ingredients and that was it.  And, that was how I learned to cook it too.  Over the years I have tweaked this recipe to suit my taste.  Such as the different spiced stewed tomatoes and not just plain canned tomatoes and tomato sauce as Grandma Rosie cooked it.  I left out the raisins that my aunt puts in hers because I did not like it.  I put more sauce than some.  Some cook it the way you did - not much sauce.  But I just know we have always eaten this dish in our family as far back as my memory goes."

This is one of those dishes that can be tweaked quite easily to fit individual tastes. Add tomato paste for a more pronounced tomato flavor, use different types of stewed tomatoes (I happen to like the Muir Glen Fire Roasted), add raisins, more potatoes, extra garlic etc. This is also one of those recipes that is inexpensive and you can double or triple the ingredients to feed a crowd.

GRANDMA ROSIES GARBANZO STEW

2 Tablespoons bacon grease
1 large onion, diced
1 pound ground beef
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 14.5-oz can diced stewed tomatoes (any variety)
1 15.5-oz can garbanzo's (with juice)
Salt
Pepper
Cooked Rice

Melt bacon grease over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft. Add garlic and stir for a minute being careful not to burn.

Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Add potatoes, garbanzos (with juice from can), stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.

Cover and cook until potatoes are soft and garbanzos are tender (time on this depends on how big you dice your potatoes, mine took a little over half an hour). Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over Rice.

Note: My mom likes hers a bit soupy. She adds some water, about 8-oz or so (or use beef broth etc) when she adds the potatoes (this would probably help the potatoes cook faster).

Note: This dish always seems to need a lot of salt for me after cooking. I may have to try adding a bit during the cooking process next time.

Note: We serve this over medium grain rice.

Small Plates - June 27, 2009

IT"S TIME - There is a little web site that you put in your zip code and it tells you whether it's iced coffee weather. Even though it's summer, the dang thing has been telling me "no" for a while. Thankfully today it said "yes" so hopefully the summer iced coffee weather is here. Considering it's going to be almost a hundred degrees here today, that is a good thing. http://isiticedcoffeeweather.com/

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN - I order iced coffees from Starbucks all the time. And I know they have 90 calories. But it never occurred to me to think where those calories came from. It's because they sweeten their iced coffees with Classic Syrup. Calories I don't need. So next time I'll remember to ask them to leave out the syrup and save me some calories. For more info go here

STARBUCKS NEWS - Lots going on in the Starbucks universe. Instead of grinding coffee only in the morning, Starbucks will grind beans each time a new pot is brewed. Zagat, in this years Fast Food Survey, had Starbucks as the top fast food coffee. New stores built will be more eco-friendly (there is already a coffee bar that includes scrap leather from shoe and automobile factories).

NO HIGH FRUCTOSE - As of June 30th Starbucks is supposed to roll out some reformulated items without high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors and dyes (I think the Frapps are included in this but maybe not until the summer). This will also include removing preservatives where possible. They plan on serving more salads and "health conscious" foods too.

TO FREEZE OR NOT TO FREEZE - If you've ever wondered if you should refrigerate or freeze your coffee, if rules for beans are different when it comes to espresso, and why you shouldn't take your coffee back and forth from the freezer to the brewer each day, check out this article here. Do you store your coffee in aluminum or Mylar foil, bagged in double--even triple--layers of poly bags? Yeah, you need to read the article.

Bowl of coffee photo taken by Mrs. L on her iPhone

Ropa Vieja

Though it was a pretty hot day here today, it's been a pretty chilly summer so far. Big cuts of meat in the crock pot are a welcome meal to come home to, especially when we are busy after work.

This recipe comes from the January 2009 issue of Good Housekeeping. Traditionally shredded flank steak in a tomato sauce base, this was an easy version of the dish that translates into "old clothes" in Spanish. I liked the added kick the pickled jalapeno chilies added (though the dish wasn't hot at all).

This recipe calls for stirring the cooking liquid back into the beef after it's shredded, putting the mixture into a bowl and serving with tortillas. We had a bunch of leftover tortillas that we decided to use to make Ropa Vieja burritos. Adding the liquid back into the shredded beef would have made the mixture too soupy. In fact, we had to drain the beef quite a bit before serving in tortillas just to have something that wasn't too messy to eat. Next time we'll put the mixture in a bowl and serve it more like a stew as intended.  The extra cooking liquid though, worked great over rice.

ROPA VIEJA

1/2 c. drained sliced pickled jalapeno chiles
3 red, orange, and/or yellow peppers, cut into 1/4-in-wide slices
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 lg. onion (12 oz.) cut in half and sliced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Salt
2 beef flank steaks (3 1/2 lbs. total)
1 can (14.5 oz.) whole tomatoes in juice
Warm tortillas or rice (optional)

In a 6 to 6 1/2 quart slow cooker bowl, stir together jalapenos, peppers, garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt. Top with flank steaks, cutting steaks if necessary to fit in slow cooker bowl. With kitchen shears, coarsely cut up tomatoes in can. Pour tomatoes with their juice over steaks in slow cooker; do not stir. Cover slow cooker with lid, and cook as manufacturer directs on low setting 9 hours.

With slotted spoon, transfer steak and vegetables to large bowl. Discard bay leaf. With 2 forks, shred steak, with the grain, into fine strips. Skim and discard fat from cooking liquid. Stir cooking liquid into steak mixture. Spoon into serving bowls, and serve with warm tortillas if you like. Makes about 10 cups (10 main-dish servings). 300 calories a serving.

Note: We drained the liquid from the meat mixture and made burritos. We also added some sour cream and shredded cheese to this. Completely takes away any authenticity of this being a Ropa Vieja but it made great burritos. And the remaining liquid did work great over rice.

Blog Year In Review - The Top Five

I've liked quite a few of the recipes I've made in the past year (June 08 through May 09), but these are the five that stood out to me (in no particular order):

1. SHRIMP PAD THAI
This isn't what you would call an authentic Pad Thai but it had great flavor and was pretty easy to put together. It came from the Martha Stewart Great Food Fast cookbook which I cooked from a lot last year.

There were a few more ingredients than in most of the quick and simple dishes I make but I think that's what gave it such a great taste. It made me want to cook more Thai food. Check it out here.

2. OINK OINTMENT FOR BBQ RIBS
This is a recipe I think about a lot. It had such a great flavor that I wanted to put it on everything...steaks, potatoes, veggies. Once we start barbecuing this summer (we've either been busy or it's been cold so we haven't started yet) I plan on getting out this recipe and going to town.

The recipe came from the Burning Desires cookbook, which I think will also be getting more use this summer. Check out the recipe here.

3. EGG SALAD WITH DILL
This is a recipe I've made many times and it's always gotten raves. It came from the original Silver Palate Cookbook. It's not too dry, not too wet. Perfect sandwich filling.

I used my Pampered Chef Cut-N-Seal to make the cute little sandwich shown in the photo.  Check out the recipe here.

4. NO BAKE BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE
This was probably the best recipe I made last year. It turned out not only a very tasty cheesecake but it looked pretty good too. It made me a wonderful fan of fresh blueberries from the local farmers market.

The recipe came from the Epicurious website. Check out the recipe here.

5. SPICY SOY DIPPING SAUCE
This is a recipe I make a lot. Anytime we have anything that needs a dipping sauce, I use this recipe. Quite often when we are busy, a bag of potstickers is our dinner, and I whip this sauce up to use. Any leftovers goes good over rice or noodles.

This came from the Martin Yan Quick and Easy Cookbook (another book I cook from often). Check out the recipe here.

I asked Mr. L what his favorite recipes were this past year and he voted for Rib Steak with Bing Cherry-Pinot Noir Reduction, Nuttela Mistake Puffs, Hooters Buffalo Wings, Shrimp Pad Thai, and Mrs. L's Eggnog. Not sure why he picked those, but yes, I'm paying attention for recipes or the upcoming year...steak, chocolate, Hooters and nog.....

Blog Year In Review - Best of Moments

First, a little comment on the photo, though it might be a little hard to see. I took this photo a few weeks ago at my local Kohl's department store. I was looking for some items for the new cat. Not knowing where they might keep pet stuff I just started cruising the aisles. I came across this scene. Yes, in the middle of the infant section with all sorts of cute clothes for newborns on one side, and all sorts of cute dresses for girl toddlers on the other side, was....A Margaritaville display. Complete with margarita mixes, bar equipment and margarita glasses for sale. Though I saw a few mothers that looked like they really needed a drink....Location, Location, Location....

I took a look at the recipes I've posted this past blog year of mine. One thing I noted was that I was less experimental this year than last. I attribute that to less time this past year to sit, plan and cook. If I'm going to take on a real cooking challenge I'd rather have the entire weekend to plan, shop and take my time preparing the dish. I found a lot more quick and easy meals have been prepared lately. Cheaper meals too, that didn't require costly ingredients that I needed to search out or that wouldn't be used again. A sign of the economy? They tell us that we are staying home and cooking more often than going out. But my mind says if that were true I'd be attempting much more labor intensive dishes. Something to ponder.

I also realized that I still haven't started on those 2009 Cooking resolutions, which is honestly, no surprise to me. Those resolutions are to cook with or use techniques that frighten me so it's typical that I'd put them off till the last minute. And I've been to a ton of restaurants this past year which I have yet to blog about (something about not being a critic makes it hard to critique).  And we never really updated the look and feel of the blog which we have been meaning to do. Hopefully some of those things will be addressed during this third year of my cooking adventure. But in the meantime, in looking back over the past blog year, this is what stood out to me:

Best Food Experience: Our yearly trip to Las Vegas where our food ranged from deep fried Twinkies to high end gourmet stuff. (Note: If you watch Kathy Griffins show My Life On The D-List you'll see the place where we got the twinkies...Kathy took Bette Midler there...Bette liked the deep fried twinkies!).

Worst Food Experience: Probably the Great American Food and Music Festival. I realize it's probably by default because it was just last week. It just didn't live up to they hype.

Best Restaurant Meal: The Napa Rose at the Disneyland California Adventure Hotel. Great wine, wonderful food and we were there with family which made it an awesome meal. Honorable Mentions would be David Burkes in Vegas and Sushi Sam's in San Mateo.

Most Out of the Box Meal: Sushi Sam's. It was my first experience with omakase (chef's choice). As someone who doesn't really like fish, this was definitely risky on my part, but I really liked most of what the chef made for us (there were five of us at the sushi bar). Mr. L used to go to Sushi Sam's every Friday for about three years so I knew I could trust the chef to take care of me.

Theme for the Year: Burn Baby Burn. I seemed to have a bit of trouble with hot peppers and hot pans.

Favorite Cookbook: This was a tie. This is hard since I usually only cook one dish from each cookbook. But I cooked several dishes from The Food Network Kitchens Favorite Recipes and Martin Yan Quick & Easy and they were all pretty good.

Favorite Dish Cooked: Couldn't decide so I went with my top five (see next post).

Most Unexpected Food Moment: The lady at the table next to me in David Burkes passing out in my lap during dinner. Yeah, need to post about that one of these days.

Most Googled Post: Mortadella Sandwich. This is something Mr. L and I still make on a regular basis that was posted back in September of '07. I still get folks coming to my blog every day because of that post. The post also made it as a reference under Mortadella Sandwich in Wikipedia! Other recipes that get searched for a lot are: Twinki-Misu, Egg Salad with Dill, Baked Eggs in Ham Shells and Over the Rainbow Macaroni and Cheese. Any crock pot recipe also seems to be popular right now.

Favorite Photo: I honestly don't spend much time "staging" my food photos. I usually just put them in a dish, find some light and take a photo. I haven't used (yet anyway) tweezers to position food items though I do try to wipe up crumbs and spills first. Rarely do I photoshop my photos (though this may change as I become more familiar with my MAC). Probably my favorite photo that I took was a photo that actually was staged. It was this photo of the Potato Crisps.

Best Food Find: Williams Sonomas Croissants Expensive, but really easy to bake (take them out of the freezer the night before, they are ready to be baked the next morning) and better than any premade
croissant I can get anywhere local that I know of.

Most Romantic Food Moment: Mr. L and I go to Rue Lepic restaurant in San Francisco every year for our anniversary. This year, the day we we went, it was almost 100 degrees in the city . Most places don't have the best air-conditioning and lots of restaurants were without patrons. We walked into an empty Rue Lepic and had the entire place (though it's small to start with) to ourselves for the entire meal. Our own personal waiter and our own personal chef. Great food. Good wine. Perfect meal.

Since food and wine are such a big part of our lives, there were many, many more wonderful moments, both at home and at restaurants, that Mr. L and I expeirenced this past year. I'm hoping for many more moments like those in the future.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

Make this cake. Seriously. Just make this cake. You will not be sorry.

When I came across this recipe in the June 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine, I bookmarked it. It was under their Quick Every Day section. So I figured it would be a quick and easy dessert to make at some point.

Then I saw the cake posted on Smitten Kitchen's blog. Her photographs looked so tempting, showing much more of the raspberries than the cake in the magazine. Since I had just picked up half a flat of fresh raspberries from the Farmers Market (it was towards the end of the day and they were going for a buck a pint), I decided to make this cake that night.

It's a very light cake, perfect for a summer dessert. Simple. Quick. It looks good. It tastes good. It tastes really good. Trust me, you need to make this cake. And don't be afraid of the buttermilk. I'm not normally a fan of the stuff but in baked goods like this it works really well and you don't taste it.

RASPBERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5-oz)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate. Serves 6

Note: Recipe says you can substitute any sweet, juicy berries for the raspberries.

Note: Do check out Smitten Kitchens modified recipe here. She added some grated lemon zest (which I also added), gives some clearer directions on what to do, and shortens the cooking time (I guess some of her readers found the 25-30 minute baking time too long. I cooked mine 25 minutes). She also gives directions on how to make your own buttermilk if you don't want to buy some. She gives a hint of how to "scatter" the raspberries which made sense and is what I followed.

Note: I used more than a cup of raspberries.

The Saga of the Sunflower

Mr. L came home the other night and I immediately knew something was wrong. He looked dejected. His shoulders were slumping. He had a frown on his face. "It's gone" he said. What? What's gone? "My sunflower. Some stupid ^&%$#$* took my sunflower". And then he slumped in the chair. I understood his pain.

Last summer, on a routine trip to the hardware store, Mr. L came back with a packet of sunflower seeds. Not the kind you eat, but the kind you plant. I have no idea why he bought them, but he was determined to grow some sunflowers. So he went out and got some little seed pots and proceeded to plant a good dozen seeds. But as soon as they started sprouting, the squirrels decided they were fair game. We came home to find dirt and little sprouts all over the patio. Mr. L was not amused.

So Mr. L got inventive. He concocted this squirrel proof netting system full of pots, stakes and several different types of netting. And he babied those seedlings. He continued to put the little sunflower plants into bigger pots as they grew. He mulched. He watered. He moved to sunnier spots. Some survived, some didn't. But his safeguards worked. If the seedlings didn't live, it wouldn't be because of the squirrels.

As this spring rolled around, there were maybe three plants that seemed to have survived the winter. So they were planted in even bigger pots. And Mr. L tended them, trying to coax them to live, watering them faithfully, moving them to the correct sunlight. Alas, two of them failed. So then there was one. One beautiful sunflower plant. Mr. L took it out of the netting, staked it and we watched it grow. And grow. And then....yes, a flower. Beautiful yellow petals beginning to burst forth. And then, before the plant could reach it's full potential, it was cut down.

We speculated what could have caused this disaster. The plant wasn't knocked over. It looked like someone had come, taken a knife, and just cut off the top part of the plant that held the flower. Could it have been birds? We have a family of doves that live in our patio. But no, couldn't be them. We thought maybe a person had come in and taken the flower. But why leave other flowers or items in our patio? Squirrels? But how could squirrels lop off the top like that and not destroy the rest of the plant? It didn't matter. Mr. L sat dejectedly in his chair muttering "It's gone".

The next morning as I was leaving for work I took a closer look at the plant (which you see above). The plant was still standing tall in it's pot, it just had no top. And then I noticed it. Up on the top of the patio wall. Telltale signs of a yellow sunflower plant. And then on the other side of the wall, more of the plant...yellow petals. It then dawned on me. Damn squirrels.

The side of the patio walls are made of a textured material that the squirrels can climb. In fact the entire house is made of this material and we watch squirrels climb up and down the outside walls all the time (can't wait for the first time our kitten sees one running by the window!).

My thought is that the stupid squirrel went at the sunflower plant from up above. It probably was prancing along the top of the wall, looked down, saw the seeds in the middle of the just blossoming sunflower and thought "dinner!". It climbed down the patio wall a bit, grabbed/gnawed the top of the sunflower plant off and went about destroying Mr. L's beloved project.

We have no idea if the plant will grow another flower. We don't have the heart to throw away this topless sunflower after it worked so hard (with Mr. L's help) to survive. I do know that any squirrel that shows his face anywhere near our place in the near future should be very afraid of it's life, because I have a feeling Mr. L will be waiting in hiding. And I doubt he will be giving any quarter....

Here was the burgeoning sunflower. Alas, it's life was only about a day.