show-stopping hibiscus
I have this fabulous dinner plate hibiscus blooming right now.
It is huge...I have big hands.
Here it is in comparison to the other two normal size ones I have.
And here they are with a black-eyed susan.
Busy day in the kitchen with Cook's Illustrated
Just so I don’t forget. This all started with the latest edition of the Cooks Illustrated magazine. It’s a new format and seems to have a new focus. I found myself wanting to prepare a lot of the recipes but I did not have all the ingredients required so I shopped first. Today I stared with Guinness Chocolate Cake. I ended up making two so I could use the entire can of Guinness! One will go in the freezer for a birthday. It was pretty dense. The thick layer of good cream cheese frosting helped. Then I made a small batch of cookies- one bowl, one pan, 12 decent-sized Coffee Toffee cookies! ( Arie really likes them but I am not a fan - not enough coffee). Then on to the sauces and dip for oven-fried chicken wings. ( I was going to make these for Saturday night but I have since discovered that my DIL and grandson only eat the nuggets and my dear son gave me a long argument about fried versus oven-fried chicken. He says oven fried ...
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As for the geothermal system, all I really know is that the manufacturer is Next Energy. I'm reasonably pleased with the system, but our drafty old house with no insulation in the walls taxes the system to its limits. It does require some electricity to run, so the savings aren't as great as you might expect (still much better than $800/month in heating oil). Grants from the governments of Ontario and Canada make it worthwhile though.