A Gift from Julie, Crab Cakes and Plants

The mail arrived a few days ago and I was surprised to see a package.. from France!  Ohhh!  What could it be?  A delightful card with a very sweet message, 2 lovely bookmarks and this!  A hand embroidered cross stitch from my blog reader and friend, Julie!  Thank you so much, this little cushion is amazing and I adore it!  We've been exchanging Christmas cards for a few years so she had my address.  I love how she made the house red with a blue roof and the sunflowers and autumn trees.  What a treasure!

It was so intriguing seeing the postmark from Colmar, France!

This is the postcard inside, the back is a sweet handwritten note from my friend Julie, wishing us all well, young and old.  What a dear lovely woman!

Also inside were these two French bookmarks.  I love the one with the Eiffel Tower and the cute birdhouse.

Kristi worked for literally hours hand picking crab to make crab cakes for dinner.  It was her first time and she found the perfect recipe online.  I will give you the recipe below.  She also boiled our homegrown potatoes and stopped at a farm stand and picked up fresh picked corn which was SO tender and delicious.  We all told her it was a resounding success and worthy of the finest dining establishment.  :-)

A close up of one of the crab cakes.. omg.. I wish you could taste these, made with fresh caught Dungeness crab off the coast of Washington in the Pacific Ocean.  

Here they are before baking.

See the big lump meat?  Swoon.  I was the lucky one to have the leftovers the yesterday and it was every bit as good as the night before!

My amazing DIL also used our fresh picked zucchini and made this for us.  It was popular and is already gone.  I will need to check the zucchini plants to see if there are anymore on them.

We've been enjoying time with Dayle on the deck, sitting well away from him.  He filled the bird feeders while I was out with him.  He will be moving back into the house tomorrow.  Mocha and I will be sooooo happy to have him back with us.

He also filled one of my pots I made with soil so we could put the aloe and the other succulent in their own "home".

Here is the pot I made.  When I was taking ceramics at Mt. Hood Community College, I decided to take Sumi ink painting from a Chinese master named Wing K. Leong.  I had seen lovely Chinese pottery with beautiful painting on them so I set out to do something similar.  He gave a class at the college so I snapped up the opportunity to learn Sumi ink skills.  I threw the pot on a wheel, let it dry to to "leather" hard, trimmed the base, had it fired once, glazed it with a semi-opaque white glaze, then mixed cobalt powder with water and painted with a Chinese brush - an iris with grasshopper above.  Then the final glaze firing.. it's very exciting to see the pots come out of the kiln.

This little plant is stressed but I hope it bounces back.

 

My orchid had looked like it had died so I put the pot out on the gazebo table in "plant detention" to see if it would rally and look!  A little orchid leaf is emerging!  Dear orchid, you will live to see another bloom.  :-)

These will all come inside for the winter.

Kristi also made us a lemon cheesecake.  I got the recipe from Dayle's older sister Eileen.  She made it for a sister's xmas party many years ago and I fell in love with it, and Travis loves lemon things.  It turned out DEEELISH!

Kristi went shopping today and look what she brought home for Mocha?  LOLOL!!!  As you can see, she was afraid to move.  Then Kristi carried her out to show Dayle through the trailer window and "flew" her through the air for him.  He cracked up.  :-)

A quick story - Hayden was outside blowing off the deck and came in and said there was a big bird out there.  Well.. I thought.. hmm.. a Blue Jay?  So, I went out a bit ago to photograph the pot and heard a thump on the gazebo roof.  Hmm.. a limb?  Then I moved a rocking chair and the sound apparently scared off.. A GREAT BLUE HERON FROM THE ROOF!  That $%%^& bugger was fishing in our pond!!!!  I'm so mad!  I called Dayle to come and watch them while I did this blog post and he put some food in and we still have Keiko, Ashley, Pierre and Tiger, but it looks like that (growl) both our pond goldfish are gone. Kristi saw scales on one of the rocks, too.  I suggested that Dayle put some old window screen over the pond and he has done so.  Sigh.  OK, I'll sign off and below my signature I will add those two recipes for you.

((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

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 Maryland Crab Cakes Recipe 

(Little Filler)

Prep Time: 40 minutes 

Cook Time: 15 minutes 

Total Time: 55 minutes 

Yield: 6 large crab cakes

Ingredients

1 large egg

1/4 cup (60g) mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 

(or 2 teaspoons dried)

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning 

(up to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons for a spicier kick)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, plus more for serving

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 pound fresh lump crab meat

2/3 cup Saltine cracker crumbs (about 14 crackers)

optional: 2 Tablespoons (30g) melted salted or unsalted butter

Instructions

Whisk the egg, mayonnaise, parsley, dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, Old Bay, lemon juice, and salt together in a large bowl. Place the crab meat on top, followed by the cracker crumbs. With a rubber spatula or large spoon, very gently and carefully fold together. You don’t want to break up that crab meat!

Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 450°F (232°C). Generously grease a rimmed baking sheet with butter or nonstick spray or line with a silicone baking mat.

Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, portion the crab cake mixture into 6 mounds on the baking sheet. (Don’t flatten!) Use your hands or a spoon to compact each individual mound so there aren’t any lumps sticking out or falling apart. For extra flavor, brush each with melted butter. This is optional but recommended!

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges and on top. Drizzle each with fresh lemon juice and serve warm.

Cover leftover crab cakes tightly and refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

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Lemon Cheesecake

Crust: 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

4 1/2 TBS sugar

4 1/2 TBS melted butter

Filling:  2 pkg of 8 oz. cream cheese (ROOM TEMP)

3/4 C sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

3 eggs

Topping: 1 pint sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

6 TBS sugar

Combine crust ingredients and spread into pie pan or springform cheesecake pan, bottom and sides.

Beat cream cheese until blended, add sugar and beat together, add lemon, combine and then beat in eggs, one at a time, pour into pan and bake 350 deg. F for 30 minutes, remove from oven, pour topping over and return to oven for 5 more minutes.

Cool and keep in fridge until served.