A Springy Sunday*

*this blog entry was for Sunday February 20th but was inadvertently published late
After the excitement of our day in the city yesterday(see previous post), a low key Sunday was much welcomed. I was looking forward to spending time in the garden.

 

With a lovely week of warmer days, the Helleborus  have started blooming. A much welcomed event!

But the first order of business for the day was to whip up a batch of macarons for a baby shower at St Andrew. Since the shower was for a soon to be baby boy, I thought blue macarons would be nice.

macaron shell ingredients

1st step: 1 1/2 cups confectioners and 2/3 cups almond meal is ground in the food processor

2nd step, 3 room temperature eggs are separated, yolks reserved for another use

 

3rd step: add 4 tablespoons sugar to egg whites and beat to a meringue

After the meringue is ready , food coloring is added (this is optional off course) but brightly colored macarons are so much fun

Almond meal mixture is dumped into the meringue and folded in

The batter is folded till slightly runny

Batter is put into a pastry bag and then piped out onto parchment lined sheets. The batter is then allowed to dry(sometimes with the help of a forced air heater, depending on the weather). When the batter is ready, they get popped into a 350F oven for 12 to 15 minutes depending on the size of the shells

Batter is ready for the oven when it has formed a leathery skin

Perfectly formed feet on the cookies means the batter was dried properly

Shells are cooled on a wire rack and then removed from parchment

Shells are lined up and ready to be filled

Blueberry jam is filled into a piping bag to make it go quickly

wild blueberry macarons!

Macarons done, it was off to church! 

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased some Lily of the Valley pips. I make it a point to add a few new plants to the garden each Spring.  I envision a field of Lily of the valley in the backyard someday. Lilies of the Valley typically bloom in April and May in my climate but February is when the pips start to become available at the local garden center. This makes it a bit of a trick to start them because the pips are always practically blooming in the bag. My trick is to pot them up in a pretty pot and enjoy them as forced bulbs indoors and plant them out when the soil is warmer in March and April. They fare better this way since it is almost always too cold and wet for the sprouting pips to survive outdoors in February.

Lilies looking good this morning after 2 weeks, still could use a few more leaves

 I received a bag of "white icicle" radish seeds yesterday and had planned to plant them but felt a little lazy....

I decided instead to take it easy, relax and enjoy the orchids and participate in The Great Backyard Birdcount The cats decided they would help too:

The cats now have their very own bird counting pedestal, but I think Socrates was plotting an attack on the yummy orchids nearby..

Filbert testing out the new perch

Inspired by the orchid displays we viewed yesterday, I added a few tall white Phalaenopsis to the trays of green Phalaenopsis on the dining table. Green and White, my favorite colors and perfect to welcome spring.

Not a whole lot of actual gardening got done today, maybe tomorrow....