Stormy Weather

Yesterday was a good day to be home. It was such a strange day, with back to back severe thunderstorms... high winds, torrential rains, and pea sized hail. I felt like I was back in Kansas, and I was waiting to hear the tornado sirens go off.

My special K was home sick, so we got to hang out, and while he snoozed (through three very loud storms), I went into the kitchen to make a rhubarb crisp. The power went off (and thankfully came back on) three times while it was baking! Each time I would yell "NOOOOOOOOO!". You cannot believe how much the power goes out here, it's just insane. We are very ill equipped for power outages in the winter... no fireplace, no wood stove, and no insulation! But it's not too bad when it happens in the summer...unless you are cooking.

Even with all of the excitement and fluctuating oven temperatures, the crisp turned out mighty good. I used a pretty traditional crisp recipe, and you can find it here.

In between the thunderstorms, I ran out and cut this Peony. It's the first one of the year, and I didn't want it to be ruined by the hail and wind. Can't you just smell it?!

Hopefully, I will have many more flowers open up in the next couple of weeks. Last year, many of the buds never opened up. I think they may be planted too deep. I've been doing a lot of reading up on peonies, and that's one of the issues that will affect blooming. Mine were just plunked in the middle of the yard by the previous owner, so I doubt they are planted properly. I spoke to a master gardener recently, who told me that if you want exquisite Peonies (I DO! I DO!), then you have to pop off the flower buds for two years in a row. WHA? I don't know if I can stomach that. Two years with nothing? That's painful. Maybe I will just pop off half of the buds... maybe that will get me close to exquisite.