Kveten, za kamnama zustanem

May is usually a nice month even in Laramie. It seems to play "catch" with us this year, though. Three snowstorms in three weeks... The green things (Plantae) seem to be ahead of us, almost jumping up in front of our eyes, when the moment is right, when the day is warm and sun plentiful. Not all of them like the occasional snow, seemingly regular in 7-10 day cycles. But some do not mind, like the tulips. They had the flower buds barely sticking out on Friday, and on Saturday afternoon: here they were! I am glad that half of the tulips is the mid-late variety, as they will probably bloom in a week or less. And I am especially happy that I planted them apparently alright and that they survived so far.

This past weekend I have successfully kick-started the sprinkler system together with C and now I am enjoying the feeling that I am taking care of the grass without having to move a finger :) I'll give a one more try to the reseeding effort in the backyard as well.
Miss Chompy seems to be missing her playmate Sashamonster, not liking to eat on her own, so this morning I tricked her successfully by mixing peanut butter, the dog-irresistible concoction, with her food. Whether it was a mistake or not shall be seen upon Sasha's arrival. I am looking forward taking the little rascal on an inline trip along the river again later today.

frrrgale emericky

May 1st ended the first year of my homeownership and I threw a party, delayed housewarming party, so to speak. Facebook posts of my friends P3 inspired me to try to make my version of frgale, at least as close as I can get. I found a recipe online, made my own plum butter (povidla) from fried plums (prunes) and also tvaroh (farmer's cheese) from yogurt. There were other things to be done, but this was my own challenge.
Of course I put some whole wheat flower into the dough, and made the dough a day ahead, it did not need much of kneading in the first place and was very nice to work with later on. One pie was just "tvaroh a posypka", second had some plum butter under the cheese and third one only plum butter topped with ground poppy seeds with sugar. Soaking raisins in hot rum is fun and I used the rum later to mix with butter for final glazing.

 I cut the finished pies into pretty thin wedges and they were delish. I bet even your grandma from Walachia would have a hard time to compete :)