Wednesday, February 17, 2010

GBBC and Valentine's Day

We participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count last weekend, and it was a very cool experience. We only spent 15-30 minutes observing each day. Here is what we saw:

SATURDAY:
2 Northern Cardinals
1 American Goldfinch
1 Carolina Wren
1 White Throated Sparrow
1 House Finch
2 Mockingbirds

This mockingbird (I think) perched in the bottle tree like a real tree cracked me up.

SUNDAY:
2 Mourning Doves
1 White Throated Sparrow
2 Tufted Titmice
1 Carolina Chickadee
8 American Robins
2 Northern Cardinals
2 House Finches
+/-25 American Crows (creepy!)
1 MockingbirdHow cute is this goldfinch?!

Moving on...

Scott and I are very low-key about holidays, and generally don't buy each other gifts. Since he works nights, we hardly ever see each other - so a Valentine's Day spent at home together was a treat! We just cooked and lounged around. I made these blueberry scones with lemon glaze for breakfast:

Here is Tyler Florence's recipe for the scones. He says not to use frozen blueberries but I often do, and they work out fine. I half the amount of lemon juice and butter in the glaze recipe, otherwise it is too thin.

Scott made my favorite, eggplant parmesan, for dinner. It was delicious (tough to photograph, though, and I didn't feel like spending much time on it and letting my meal get cold).

Here is the basic recipe. This is from Bobby Flay's Throwdown. We use regular old shredded mozzarella, parmesano reggiano instead of the romano, and a mixture of lowfat milk and one egg rather than the four eggs. We use this sauce recipe, which is from my favorite vegetarian chef, Heidi Swanson (her cookbook Cook 1.0 is awesome).

White Trash Toffee was our dessert:

This stuff is addictive, and so easy! Get the recipe here. I sub pecans.

8 comments:

Randy Emmitt said...

Ginger,
I made scones too one Sunday, the recipe for Betsy's Scones on Cameron's blog. Guess what stupid me forgot the sugar, still they were good!
Will try the toffee. no crackers in the house or I'd make it tonight.

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Looks like you are a Food channel junkie my dear! All looks yummy. We (I) make toffee every Christmas and use pecans...think it is the best thing EVER!
Love the photo of the Mockingbird on the Bottle tree, love the red bottle too.

Lisa Blair said...

That goldfinch is really cute! Sounds like y'all had a great weekend. The scones, eggplant parmesan, and toffee all look delicious! and... I love Heidi Swanson, too! She has a mushroom/brown rice casserole recipe on her blog that I love.

Susie said...

Well how nice that you cooked for each other. Looks like you had a great Valentine's day to me. That food looks yummy!

Jan said...

Hi Ginger, I love your new look! I also did the GBBC but haven't yet posted about it. I just love watching the birds, not just on that day, but just about every day! Your eggplant parmesian photo actually LOOKS like you spent a lot of time on it...it has made me hungry and feel like I am going to have to try it myself! The scones look amazing, too. And I'm not just being 'nice'...they really do! The white trash toffee is something my neighbors across the street have brought us every year for Christmas!! I had no idea what the name of it was...how funny;-) I didn't know the actual recipe either, so thank you for the link.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

You saw a great variety of birds during your count. It really is fun to do, and I think I notice birds I might have otherwise missed.
Your Valentine's food looks delicious! I love eggplant Parmesan, Yum!

Pooh Bare said...

I like the new picture. Also, I think you should update your profile, I have stomped you the last couple of times WII bowled. Maybe you should change it to curling since you are currently undefeated in that

Shady Gardener said...

Thank you for participating in the Bird count. I was unable to do it this year. Your bird photos are great, but Oh, My! I wanted to find a fork! ;-)

I've printed the top two recipes, but I'm not going for that toffee... just don't need it! (I'd eat it all) ha. Have a nice day!