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Small Adventures
Aug. 13th, 2020 08:02 pmWe had some fun activities and unexpected events this week that are worth mentioning.
On Saturday night we drove out to Cape Canaveral for bioluminescent kayaking!
My sister Kate got us a Cloud 9 (it's like Groupon) experience to do this, as a Christmas gift about two years ago. We've never had the time because Jameson was always gigging in the summer and I had jobs that didn't allow time off. This year was the year!
I was nervous and excited when we pulled up to the launch area. There was a big white van with lots of people milling around wearing life jackets and receiving paddles from the tour guides. Jameson and I joined the group, and after we got our jackets and paddles (and glow sticks so we wouldn't get lost) we all walked down to the sand to launch our kayaks!
I have never been kayaking before so I was a little aprehensive, but I have rowed a boat before so the concept was very much the same. In a few minutes I got the hang of it :)
We set off down the Banana River together. The water was calm with just a few occasional wake waves from small boats moving off in the distance. Once we got past most of the lights from the shore, we could see the bioluminescence in the water. It was amazing! Basically anywhere that the water was disturbed by our paddles, our boats or our hands, the water would shine a soft irridescent blue. Our guides encouraged us to scoop some water into our hands and look at it closely; it sparkled and glowed like a tiny galaxy of stars winking in and out. I was completely amazed, never seen anything like this before!
We made our way to a small sand bar covered in mangroves, and got out to look around. Some people got in the water and swam, others tried to take pictures. I tried as well, using a night camera app I'd downloaded, but most of my images didn't turn out (not surprising). As Jameson approached the sand bar he disturbed a school of fish, and the bioluminenscence made them look like shooting starts as they scattered in all directions. It was a beautiful night with the glowing water, the mangroves rustling in the breeze, and distant flashes of lightning across the waters of Cape Canaveral.
After a while we got back in the kayaks and continued down the river, stopping again in a small still lagoon to see if we could find any manatees or large patches of bioluminenscence. We didn't have luck there, but we did disturb a school of mullet and some poor soul in our group ended up with one in his kayak :P It was beautiful to just drift on the still water and look up at the stars, much more visible without light pollution from the road or city.
Too soon our time was up, and we returned to the launch site. After thanking our guides profusely we started the long drive home. This was an amazing experience, if you're ever in Florida and looking for an affordable, memorable, non-touristy experience, definitely consider a nighttime bioluminescence tour. The tour group we used was Adventures in Florida and they were wonderful.
Here is some very poor video I managed to capture of the bioluminescence in the water. I'm flailing my paddle around to get the water glowing. In person the effect is much brighter. This is something best experienced in the moment.
And the only half-decent picture I managed to get of Jameson in his kayak! A worthy seaman if I ever saw one!
We got home and cleaned up, then went straight to bed.
The next morning I woke up slowly, a little sore from our kayaking adventure. The cardinals were chirping very loudly; at first I assumed they were just being territorial. But then I realized that the chirping was kind of louder than usual. And then I slowly came to the realization that a cardinal was probably trapped on the pool deck.
A few nights ago a storm came through and tore one of the screens in the lanai right off. Since then we've been trying to find someone to fix it, but haven't had any luck. So there's an entire panel missing above the pool. This cardinal was probably chasing her breakfast this morning and followed it rigth through the hole in the screen, then couldn't find her way out again. As soon as I realized what was up, I got up and went out to find her. She was perched on one of my plant hooks, looking upset.
Some of you may remember that I used to volunteer at a sanctuary for birds of prey, and also at a wildlife center in Kansas City. In both facilities I learned how to catch birds large and small. The easiest way is to tire the bird by simply walking back and forth, forcing it to fly away from you. After a few minutes the bird will become tired and will "go to ground", in other words it will stop attempting to fly above your reach. At this point you can corner the bird with a net or pillowcase and pick her up.
I used this technique this morning, being careful to keep her away from the pool. It only took a few minutes to get her safely in my hand.
But of course she couldn't know I was there to help. I was a big terrifying human. Some birds play dead or go into a sort of shock when you catch them like this. But this feisty girl promptly turned around and BIT me without any hesitation!
Some lucky male out there is lucky to have such a brave little lady <3
It didn't remotely hurt, just felt like a little pinch on my finger. But I was very impressed!
I quickly took her outside to let her go. In this video you can see that my hand is loosely open, but she refuses to stop attacking my thumb. Wasn't about to leave without giving me a piece of her mind I guess!
Finally she realized that she was free to go. I would have moved my thumb out of the way of her wings if she hadn't had it in her mouth!!
I was glad to be able to help this beautiful bird, and sorry that she got stuck in the lanai in the first place. Hopefully our screen will be repaired soon.
That was the excitement for the morning. After all that I had breakfast while Jameson did laundry and coached his students.
We were both a bit tired from last night's adventures, so took it easy most of the day. At some point I went out and got ingredients for meatballs and spaghetti. That made a nice dinner.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. We worked, ate, slept.
I had my last steno class for about two weeks as my school goes into a break. I'll still be practicing and reviewing my lessons though.
It's bizarre to think that around this time last year I was just learning the stenography alphabet. And at the beginning of this year I could only type one-syllable words and phrases like "The big dog ran up to the girl", and now I'm typing full paragraphs about "The perils of inflation in our modern economy and social implications". Absolutely nuts.
I still can't even imagine typing at 225. I can barely hit 80.
On Tuesday I worked from home. It was a slow work day so between my tasks I practiced steno.
Wednesday was nice, I woke up late and had a nice breakfast, then went to check on my plants. They're all doing "ok", although it's been high 90s every day and thunderstorms every night, so most of my plants are just not looking great. The cranberry hibiscus is getting bigger. The vanilla orchid is taller than me now.
In the afternoon I started prepping for dinner. The goal was to make salmon asparagus crepes with lemon dill creme fraiche. Sounds fancy, right? Well it's not! Haha. Seriously, it's extremely easy to make.
Cook a piece of salmon. Cook some asparagus. Make some crepes. Water down some sour cream and add lemon and dill.
Tada! You've made salmon asparagus crepes with lemon dill creme faiche :P
The salmon I made using sous vide, which is when you cook food in water that is heated to a specific temperature. For perfect salmon it's 125F for an hour or 90 minutes, then sear it off in a hot pan to get a little crispy texture on the outside. I seasoned my salmon with lemon zest, dill, salt and pepper.
The asparagus I boiled for about three minutes, then dumped into an ice bath to preserve a crisp texture and bright green color.
The crepes I was a little nervous about.
When my mom was alive, this was one food she liked to make with us when we came over for visitation. She had trouble making them come out right; they always seemed to be weirdly shaped, or with little "tentacles" of batter, or they would tear when she tried to flip them. But for some reason at the age of, like, twelve, I could get them right most of the time. So she would pour the batter into the pan while I did the actual forming, twisting my wrist in a quick but controlled way to make perfect paper-thin circles (most of the time) and flipping them carefully using just the corner of a spatula. Then we would spread them with cream cheese and drizzle watered-down strawberry jelly over the top. This is a really nice memory for me.
I've eaten lots of crepes since then, but I haven't made my own since my mom died.
Until tonight.
So I was a little nervous about it. What if I didn't remember how to make them any more? What if the batter wasn't right?
But they turned out fine. More than fine. They were thin and delicate and perfect, just like I remember. I did have a few "octopus" crepes, but so what. I didn't tear a single one. I think mom would have been proud.
The finished crepes were REALLY tasty! Next time I would sear the salmon harder (I always chicken out on searing because I have an irrational fear of burning things) and I would add more pepper/spice of some sort. Those things aside, I was extremely pleased with how this came together.
Now I can't wait to make the crepes from my childhood, with cream cheese and runny jam :)
Thursday I was finally able to get more footage of the butterflies. I think they don't stay as long on the milkweed when it's painfully hot out, but also I think that there's a battle going on between the spicebush and pipevine swallowtails over whose milkweed these actually are. I often see the butterflies zipping around without landing on the flowers at all, and I think it's because they're patroling their "territory" or trying to fight each other off.
Today the spicebush won. I've seen them share before...sigh. Boys are dumb. No wonder the females don't come around.
That said, when he finally settled down to eat, the spicebush was very still for once so I was able to get some nice footage.
The pipevine also had his turn. Was it really worth fighting over y'all?? SMH.
Around lunchtime I pulled out some corn tortillas, oil, and salt and whipped up some corn chips in the air fryer. They were extremely easy, crunchy and tasty! The only think is that the thickness of the tortillas varied quite a bit, so some of the chips came out chewy. Still, they were very good. I'll make these again when we have company.
I really had no plans whatsoever for the rest of the day. Which was a little weird. I practiced some steno, and swam in the pool, and made plans for things to make next week. It's kind of nice to have the time and equipment to try making lots of new foods!
Here are my ideas for next week:
Homemade granola: I love granola so much, but a lot of store-bought brands contain extra sugar, palm oil, loads of saturated fat, or whey concentrates. Granola is a food I never get tired of; if I can perfect my own, I'll probably never buy store-bought again.
Popsicles: Next week I want to make honeydew lemongrass popsicles, and the week after that I want to try matcha fudge swirl! I like "weird" flavor combinations, can you tell?
Lemon poppyseed pound cake: This is for Jameson. I recently found out that he LOVES lemon pound cake! Why did I not know this sooner??
Al Pastor-style enchiladas: We have a go-to enchilada recipe, but I recently found this one in Half-Baked Harvest and figured why not try a variation. It uses ground beef, which is kinda weird, but who knows maybe it's the next best thing :P
I wonder if I'll get to make all of these, or any of them!
It's a little strange, isn't it, that the holidays are coming up and we're still all in this situation.
Is there any point in dressing up for Halloween?
Will we be making Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves?
Will Christmas be a Zoom chat? And New Year's?
It's just so odd. I'm even wondering if I need to start gathering things like flour and sugar ahead of time since so many people will probably be stuck at home cooking and baking for the holidays. Hopefully not...hopefully producers realize that they're going to need a surplus of some things this year. We'll see what happens.
On Saturday night we drove out to Cape Canaveral for bioluminescent kayaking!
My sister Kate got us a Cloud 9 (it's like Groupon) experience to do this, as a Christmas gift about two years ago. We've never had the time because Jameson was always gigging in the summer and I had jobs that didn't allow time off. This year was the year!
I was nervous and excited when we pulled up to the launch area. There was a big white van with lots of people milling around wearing life jackets and receiving paddles from the tour guides. Jameson and I joined the group, and after we got our jackets and paddles (and glow sticks so we wouldn't get lost) we all walked down to the sand to launch our kayaks!
I have never been kayaking before so I was a little aprehensive, but I have rowed a boat before so the concept was very much the same. In a few minutes I got the hang of it :)
We set off down the Banana River together. The water was calm with just a few occasional wake waves from small boats moving off in the distance. Once we got past most of the lights from the shore, we could see the bioluminescence in the water. It was amazing! Basically anywhere that the water was disturbed by our paddles, our boats or our hands, the water would shine a soft irridescent blue. Our guides encouraged us to scoop some water into our hands and look at it closely; it sparkled and glowed like a tiny galaxy of stars winking in and out. I was completely amazed, never seen anything like this before!
We made our way to a small sand bar covered in mangroves, and got out to look around. Some people got in the water and swam, others tried to take pictures. I tried as well, using a night camera app I'd downloaded, but most of my images didn't turn out (not surprising). As Jameson approached the sand bar he disturbed a school of fish, and the bioluminenscence made them look like shooting starts as they scattered in all directions. It was a beautiful night with the glowing water, the mangroves rustling in the breeze, and distant flashes of lightning across the waters of Cape Canaveral.
After a while we got back in the kayaks and continued down the river, stopping again in a small still lagoon to see if we could find any manatees or large patches of bioluminenscence. We didn't have luck there, but we did disturb a school of mullet and some poor soul in our group ended up with one in his kayak :P It was beautiful to just drift on the still water and look up at the stars, much more visible without light pollution from the road or city.
Too soon our time was up, and we returned to the launch site. After thanking our guides profusely we started the long drive home. This was an amazing experience, if you're ever in Florida and looking for an affordable, memorable, non-touristy experience, definitely consider a nighttime bioluminescence tour. The tour group we used was Adventures in Florida and they were wonderful.
Here is some very poor video I managed to capture of the bioluminescence in the water. I'm flailing my paddle around to get the water glowing. In person the effect is much brighter. This is something best experienced in the moment.
https://instagram.com/p/CDp87fBgzA1
And the only half-decent picture I managed to get of Jameson in his kayak! A worthy seaman if I ever saw one!
We got home and cleaned up, then went straight to bed.
The next morning I woke up slowly, a little sore from our kayaking adventure. The cardinals were chirping very loudly; at first I assumed they were just being territorial. But then I realized that the chirping was kind of louder than usual. And then I slowly came to the realization that a cardinal was probably trapped on the pool deck.
A few nights ago a storm came through and tore one of the screens in the lanai right off. Since then we've been trying to find someone to fix it, but haven't had any luck. So there's an entire panel missing above the pool. This cardinal was probably chasing her breakfast this morning and followed it rigth through the hole in the screen, then couldn't find her way out again. As soon as I realized what was up, I got up and went out to find her. She was perched on one of my plant hooks, looking upset.
Some of you may remember that I used to volunteer at a sanctuary for birds of prey, and also at a wildlife center in Kansas City. In both facilities I learned how to catch birds large and small. The easiest way is to tire the bird by simply walking back and forth, forcing it to fly away from you. After a few minutes the bird will become tired and will "go to ground", in other words it will stop attempting to fly above your reach. At this point you can corner the bird with a net or pillowcase and pick her up.
I used this technique this morning, being careful to keep her away from the pool. It only took a few minutes to get her safely in my hand.
But of course she couldn't know I was there to help. I was a big terrifying human. Some birds play dead or go into a sort of shock when you catch them like this. But this feisty girl promptly turned around and BIT me without any hesitation!
Some lucky male out there is lucky to have such a brave little lady <3
It didn't remotely hurt, just felt like a little pinch on my finger. But I was very impressed!
I quickly took her outside to let her go. In this video you can see that my hand is loosely open, but she refuses to stop attacking my thumb. Wasn't about to leave without giving me a piece of her mind I guess!
https://instagram.com/p/CDq8HJmgb24
Finally she realized that she was free to go. I would have moved my thumb out of the way of her wings if she hadn't had it in her mouth!!
I was glad to be able to help this beautiful bird, and sorry that she got stuck in the lanai in the first place. Hopefully our screen will be repaired soon.
https://instagram.com/p/CDq8kkzAc6R
That was the excitement for the morning. After all that I had breakfast while Jameson did laundry and coached his students.
We were both a bit tired from last night's adventures, so took it easy most of the day. At some point I went out and got ingredients for meatballs and spaghetti. That made a nice dinner.
The rest of the week was pretty normal. We worked, ate, slept.
I had my last steno class for about two weeks as my school goes into a break. I'll still be practicing and reviewing my lessons though.
It's bizarre to think that around this time last year I was just learning the stenography alphabet. And at the beginning of this year I could only type one-syllable words and phrases like "The big dog ran up to the girl", and now I'm typing full paragraphs about "The perils of inflation in our modern economy and social implications". Absolutely nuts.
I still can't even imagine typing at 225. I can barely hit 80.
On Tuesday I worked from home. It was a slow work day so between my tasks I practiced steno.
Wednesday was nice, I woke up late and had a nice breakfast, then went to check on my plants. They're all doing "ok", although it's been high 90s every day and thunderstorms every night, so most of my plants are just not looking great. The cranberry hibiscus is getting bigger. The vanilla orchid is taller than me now.
In the afternoon I started prepping for dinner. The goal was to make salmon asparagus crepes with lemon dill creme fraiche. Sounds fancy, right? Well it's not! Haha. Seriously, it's extremely easy to make.
Cook a piece of salmon. Cook some asparagus. Make some crepes. Water down some sour cream and add lemon and dill.
Tada! You've made salmon asparagus crepes with lemon dill creme faiche :P
The salmon I made using sous vide, which is when you cook food in water that is heated to a specific temperature. For perfect salmon it's 125F for an hour or 90 minutes, then sear it off in a hot pan to get a little crispy texture on the outside. I seasoned my salmon with lemon zest, dill, salt and pepper.
The asparagus I boiled for about three minutes, then dumped into an ice bath to preserve a crisp texture and bright green color.
The crepes I was a little nervous about.
When my mom was alive, this was one food she liked to make with us when we came over for visitation. She had trouble making them come out right; they always seemed to be weirdly shaped, or with little "tentacles" of batter, or they would tear when she tried to flip them. But for some reason at the age of, like, twelve, I could get them right most of the time. So she would pour the batter into the pan while I did the actual forming, twisting my wrist in a quick but controlled way to make perfect paper-thin circles (most of the time) and flipping them carefully using just the corner of a spatula. Then we would spread them with cream cheese and drizzle watered-down strawberry jelly over the top. This is a really nice memory for me.
I've eaten lots of crepes since then, but I haven't made my own since my mom died.
Until tonight.
So I was a little nervous about it. What if I didn't remember how to make them any more? What if the batter wasn't right?
But they turned out fine. More than fine. They were thin and delicate and perfect, just like I remember. I did have a few "octopus" crepes, but so what. I didn't tear a single one. I think mom would have been proud.
The finished crepes were REALLY tasty! Next time I would sear the salmon harder (I always chicken out on searing because I have an irrational fear of burning things) and I would add more pepper/spice of some sort. Those things aside, I was extremely pleased with how this came together.
Now I can't wait to make the crepes from my childhood, with cream cheese and runny jam :)
Thursday I was finally able to get more footage of the butterflies. I think they don't stay as long on the milkweed when it's painfully hot out, but also I think that there's a battle going on between the spicebush and pipevine swallowtails over whose milkweed these actually are. I often see the butterflies zipping around without landing on the flowers at all, and I think it's because they're patroling their "territory" or trying to fight each other off.
https://instagram.com/p/CD1WV2IApDx
Today the spicebush won. I've seen them share before...sigh. Boys are dumb. No wonder the females don't come around.
That said, when he finally settled down to eat, the spicebush was very still for once so I was able to get some nice footage.
https://instagram.com/p/CD1YW0qgSa5
The pipevine also had his turn. Was it really worth fighting over y'all?? SMH.
https://instagram.com/p/CDy4XDbAHBW
Around lunchtime I pulled out some corn tortillas, oil, and salt and whipped up some corn chips in the air fryer. They were extremely easy, crunchy and tasty! The only think is that the thickness of the tortillas varied quite a bit, so some of the chips came out chewy. Still, they were very good. I'll make these again when we have company.
I really had no plans whatsoever for the rest of the day. Which was a little weird. I practiced some steno, and swam in the pool, and made plans for things to make next week. It's kind of nice to have the time and equipment to try making lots of new foods!
Here are my ideas for next week:
Homemade granola: I love granola so much, but a lot of store-bought brands contain extra sugar, palm oil, loads of saturated fat, or whey concentrates. Granola is a food I never get tired of; if I can perfect my own, I'll probably never buy store-bought again.
Popsicles: Next week I want to make honeydew lemongrass popsicles, and the week after that I want to try matcha fudge swirl! I like "weird" flavor combinations, can you tell?
Lemon poppyseed pound cake: This is for Jameson. I recently found out that he LOVES lemon pound cake! Why did I not know this sooner??
Al Pastor-style enchiladas: We have a go-to enchilada recipe, but I recently found this one in Half-Baked Harvest and figured why not try a variation. It uses ground beef, which is kinda weird, but who knows maybe it's the next best thing :P
I wonder if I'll get to make all of these, or any of them!
It's a little strange, isn't it, that the holidays are coming up and we're still all in this situation.
Is there any point in dressing up for Halloween?
Will we be making Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves?
Will Christmas be a Zoom chat? And New Year's?
It's just so odd. I'm even wondering if I need to start gathering things like flour and sugar ahead of time since so many people will probably be stuck at home cooking and baking for the holidays. Hopefully not...hopefully producers realize that they're going to need a surplus of some things this year. We'll see what happens.
