Today's Update - 15 Mar 2015

Surprise!  Another Sunday update.  I thought I would go ahead and post today because I'm not sure if I am going to be able to post on Monday.  We are heading to our "retirement home" for a couple of days to finish the clean up where we were working on the fire break around the fence on our forty acres.  With spring here there will be more outdoor work to be done so we need to stay on top of it or it could easily get out of hand.  Good thing I managed to finish the last of the strawberries yesterday except for the ones that I am taking to my parents.

I also will be doing a big spring inventory of my supplies up there.  I suspect I am going to find quite a bit of stuff that needs to be rotated out and new stuff brought up in its place.

All the strawberries that I've been capping and slicing reminded me of the book Strawberry Girl.  The book was original published in 1945 and a pretty good example of what happened in early 20th century Florida.  The book will remind many that a good pioneer story doesn't have to be geographically located out west.  The plot of the book is:    Set in the Florida in the early 20th century, the story deals with two families, the Boyers and the Slaters. The Boyers move to Florida to raise strawberries. They come into conflict with their new neighbors, the Slaters, who raise cattle and let their animals roam loose. The two main characters are Birdie Boyer, the "Strawberry Girl" of the book's title, and Shoestring Slater, whose pony ruins the Boyers strawberries. The feud between the two families heightens through the book, but they reconcile by the end of the novel.

Speaking of strawberries did you know balsamic vinegar brings out the sweetness of the berries?  A neighbor made some like that then served them over a small slice of angel food cake and a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream and I gotta tell you, it was some of the richest tasting stuff I've eaten in a while yet it wasn't really bad diet wise so long as you didn't go back for seconds ... or thirds.  You take roughly 16 ounces of fresh strawberries that you've washed, capped, and quartered and then add about a quarter cup of sugar and four teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and then fold that together and let it sit for a bit to make it a little "juicy."  I know, sounds weird.  But it really was good.  The angel food cake and vanilla helped avert any sweetness overload.

Story update:

And The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth
http://geekinherittheearth.blogspot.com/

Later today I hope to update Wild Thyme and maybe even get to Zombies.  Depends on how early - or late - we get on the road.  I generally do the driving so if I don't get it done before we leave I'll have to try and do it tomorrow.

Either way ...

Enjoy!