Tulip: Extreme Close-Up

Over all, we had a very nice weekend and are feeling the warm glow of accomplishment. We weeded, mulched (the county has a great free mulch program of which we have gratefully availed ourselves), trellised and more and even saw the first glimpses of what we're hoping will be a nice harvest of radishes, lettuce and snap peas. We laid grass seed on what had been a muddy pit in front of the house. I also pushed the season a bit and planted pots for the front steps and installed a few new creeping phlox around the front bed.



And the Boy Wonder tried climbing a tree.

Then there was the cooking, which nearly ruined everything. I can't remember the last time I had such a string of unqualified kitchen failures and I'm more than a little discouraged.

First there was the baklava. I started with this recipe but lost faith when I realized that the pan in the pictures was not the jelly roll pan specified in the recipe. Further, the money shot at the end seemingly shows a finished pan of something resembling a kind of albino variety, not the usual golden, honey-tinged (literally and figuratively) to which I am accustomed. So I checked out a few other recipes and, in a fit of hubris, decided to make up my own using the commonalities of ingredient and technique evidenced across the sample.

Phyllo and I have an uneasy relationship under the best of circumstances but now I wouldn't be surprised if it stopped speaking to me altogether. I used too much honey syrup and not enough phyllo, resulting an a doughy mess - not at all gooey in the good way, as baklava should be. We've eaten about a third of the pan, more in an effort not to waste rather than out of any real enthusiasm. Once nice thing I'm happy with and would likely do again - rather than use vanilla in the honey syrup as many of the recipes do, I substituted almond which blended very well with the honey and was a nice counterpoint to the more mundane walnut. Just another point in my long running campaign to put either almond or lime anywhere I think I might be able to get away with it.

I also made strawberry jam sauce. It was my own fault - everything was going beautifully until I became distracted and tried to overtask myself. Predictably with a product that relies on close attention to ratios, I made a mistake and then tried to overcorrect. Ah well. At least it's still delicious and strawberry season is just starting. I will have plenty of time to try again and, in the meantime, a little melon in strawberry coulis is not a terrible thing.

There were a few other, more minor, cooking disappointments. The yogurt didn't set up, the pizzelles aren't crisp and my omelets turned out to be more like Scrambed Eggs With Stuff In Them. As much as I believe that sometimes things just happen, that there isn't always some grand message or supreme guiding hand I'm pretty sure I'm seeing a lesson here. Step back. Take some time. Quit rushing so. Maybe if I hadn't walked away from the omelets or the jam they would have turned out differently. Then again, maybe not.