Limonene

@limonene

Knitter, spinner, baseball enthusiast. USDA Zone 7a Opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

857 Siguiendo279 Seguidores1366 Publicaciones

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¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y limonene.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Limonene@limonene· 12d

They’re nice and tart, but small relative to the pits. The clusters of flowers are really pretty in the spring.

A beach plum plant starting to bloom. The branches are covered in small white flowers and flower buds.

A beach plum just past peak bloom. There are a lot of small white flowers all over the branches and some green leaves starting to erupt.

Limonene@limonene· 14d

I was right to be dubious about the pie crust, which I think I overhydrated and overworked. The cherry-frangipane filling is fine, I guess? Overall, a bit underwhelming and likely to drive me back to my Serious Eats Easy Pie Dough recipe for good.

A cherry frangipane pie in a glass dish on a parchment-lined sheet. The dark red cherries are scattered throughout the golden-brown frangipane filling and a little crust is folded over the filling and sprinkled with turbinado sugar.

Limonene@limonene· 17d

Realized I had forgotten to dock the crust right after filling the pie shell with frangipane and cherries. Did I mention that pastry keeps me humble?

An unbaked pie in a glass baking dish. There are whole, pitted cherries dusted with flour and sugar and piled above a layer of almond cream. The crust is folded slightly over the filling and has been sprinkled with sparkling turbinado sugar

Limonene@limonene· 17d

I’m not feeling great about the rough puff pie dough I made last night, but there is summer fruit that needs to be cooked so it can be eaten, so I have to forge ahead. I can always count on pastry to keep me humble.

An oblong slab of rough puff pastry dough next to a maple rolling pin on a floured mat with a ruler grid and instructions for making a filled bread braid printed on it

Limonene@limonene· 21d

Would some bees help? You’ve inspired me to try planting more native plants to try to encourage more of them.

Two sweat bees on a yellow watermelon flower above messy grass, with a very small watermelon in the background. The smaller bee is shiny and black and the larger bee is metallic bronze-y and greenish.

The face of a digger bee of some sort exiting her nest (a hole in some bare ground surrounded by crabgrass). She is yellow and black and fuzzy and has flung bits of dirt in all directions while digging her nest.

Milkweed seedlings about to be transplanted

Limonene@limonene· 23d

I am finding the Fast Lady cowpea plants with their unexpectedly big flowers so charming (even if they are overrunning my poblano peppers) that I really hope I like the resulting peas enough to grow them again next year! 🌱

A closeup view of the four-petaled, white cowpea flowers and orange flower buds against the dark green foliage

A view of a raised garden bed with a bushy row of cowpeas, with multiple blooms and with some pods sticking up vertically from the stems. Behind them are successively shorter rows of bush string beans, beets, and carrots. In the foreground, there are 2 beleaguered poblano pepper plants and some onion and carrot seedlings.

Limonene@limonene· 24d

Food safety has never tasted so good (members of the family have sulfa allergies, so we are being cautious even with non-lettuce produce).

A blueberry buckle on a cooling rack on the stove. The cake is topped with a golden-brown crumb layer and the side of the cake is splotchy with blueberries.

Limonene@limonene· 28d

After washing, my strawberries weren’t aesthetically pleasing enough to top a cake, so I baked the lazy strawberry sonker, instead. I’m not sure if it truly counts as my new recipe for the month, since I didn’t follow the instructions exactly (reviews said it was soupy as written, so I improvised).

A layer of golden yellow cake dolloped over baked strawberries in a square glass baking dish. The strawberries have bubbled up over the edges of the cake and out of the pan, welding it to the parchment paper beneath it.

Limonene@limonene· Jul 11

Did not expect to find a lightning bug in the kitchen this evening. This was way more pleasant than the typical bug-relocation experience.

A narrow black beetle a bit under a half inch long with a red head with a black spot in a small jar on a beige Formica countertop

The same black beetle with a red head, blurrily crawling up the side of the jar so you can see its undercarriage, including a yellow photophore at the bottom of the abdomen

Limonene@limonene· Jul 5

So far, I am really happy with the aesthetics of my succession planting. Some of the beans are just starting to flower, so I’ll know if it was a culinary success in a bit. I didn’t expect the lady peas to be so vigorous, so they’re overshadowing my ancho chiles by a lot, but I’m learning. 🌱

A raised garden bed, surrounded by bricks. There are rows of beans, carrots, and beets, getting progressively taller with distance from the viewer. The furthest row is field (lady) peas. At the bottom, hardware cloth protects the youngest seedlings.

Limonene@limonene· Jun 29

I’ve been so good at sticking to my one new recipe per month resolution! June’s entry is Gnocchi With Creamy Tomato Sauce from ATK. I did adjust the seasoning to my taste, but the reviews were right about a too-high sauce-to-gnocchi ratio. I might throw in some cannellini beans next time.

A white ceramic casserole dish overfilled with bubbling tomato sauce and topped with browned Parmigiano Reggiano

Limonene@limonene· Jun 27

Now, I *know* that this sugar beet had way more than one leaf a couple of days ago.

A vegetable garden with a sugar beet that has had all but one leaf chomped off. Nearby are some tall dill plants, some squash and cucumbers, lady pea seedlings under hardware cloth, and carrots.

A small bunny rabbit trying to hide in a fig bush. He is sitting still, but is clearly yearning for beet greens.

Limonene@limonene· Jun 14

Succession planting doesn’t work so well when you are too softhearted to terminate the previous plants in the space. The plan was to pull the dill and transplant tomatoes, but then the black swallowtail caterpillars moved in. 🌱

A closeup of a dill plant with a small black caterpillar with a white stripe in the middle and a butterfly egg on it.

Limonene@limonene· Jun 7

In more pleasant garden news, my first round of beans and my second round of beets are starting to take off!

A light green raised garden bed surrounded by bricks. Rows of fast lady cream peas, green beans, and beets are sprouting and leafing out. They’re covered in hardware cloth because squirrels are jerks.

Limonene@limonene· Jun 7

I am starting to think that the yarrow has done so well in the corner of the yard where I am trying to create a pollinator garden because its roots can bust through the horrible bankrun, while the milkweed…can’t. I’m wondering if I should call it a loss, plant tillage radish, and try again next year

A scrubby, awful patch of soil with some sickly looking milkweed plants of various sizes, a violets that are surviving and so, so much crabgrass that is absolutely thriving. Beyond it, yarrow is living its best life and starting to send out bright pink flowers above fern-y greens.

Limonene@limonene· Jun 6

Every now and then, my vegetable gardening choices pay off aesthetically, too.

A clear plastic container full of yellow, green, and dark purple snow peas, plus two small strawberries on the right. It’s golden hour, so everything has an extra glow about it.

Limonene@limonene· Jun 5

In the process of trying to verify a purported Hemingway quote that struck me as uncharacteristic, I learned that he was truly a man ahead of his time.

A page from the quotations section of Goodreads:

“Some websites accepted each quote we
create
Ernest Hemingway
Tags: ernest-hemingway
Like • 16 17

Limonene@limonene· Jun 1

This afternoon we finished filling the raised bed, harvested strawberries and bolting greens, and sowed beans and summer herbs. No wonder I’m tired.

A pile of freshly harvested senposai and vivid pak choi that has very purple stems. You can see where some of them are bolting

A 4’ by 4’ plot with strawberry plants and a few ripe berries. It all covered with netting that’s supported by bamboo posts with upturned cream cheese containers on them because I am a classy dame who doesn’t want to accidentally put her eye out.

Seed packs of the various beans I plan to grow this year laid out in 2 rows. Top row; Fast Lady Cowpeas from Fedco and Mascotte and Castandel (the “weekend” bean) from Renee’s; bottom row, Accelerate green bean, Red Tail green bean and Velour Haricots Verts

Limonene@limonene· May 25

Startup Hell by @caitlinrozakis.bsky.social

A paperback copy of Startup Hell, angled to show the nifty blue and dark blue printed edges of the pages.

Limonene@limonene· May 17

My New Year’s resolution continues to be a winner—the roasted strawberry pie (with added biscuit topping) from The Book on Pie turns out to be worth all the time and effort, after all!

A strawberry pie, topped with golden-brown drop biscuits that have sparkly turbinado sugar on top. The strawberries have bubbled up between the biscuits on the edges (and dripped between the crust and the glass pie dish, oops)

Limonene@limonene· May 16

Actually, you just inspired me to make that biscuit topping after all. This is a salvage mission on some less-than stellar store bought strawberries; I’m still waiting for my patch to come in.

A very small strawberry patch, in bloom, and surrounded by an edging of bricks.

Limonene@limonene· May 16

From the “by the time I’m finished with this, I’ll know how to do it” files, I can now very strongly recommend against starting the roasted strawberry part of a roasted strawberry pie at 9 pm.

The corner of a sheet tray with roasted strawberries and syrupy red juice next to a bowl of more roasted strawberries held in oven-mitted hands.

Limonene@limonene· May 13

I know that a plant isn’t truly dead until it’s warm and dead, but it feels bad to have probably lost a decade of growth on this fig tree! There are some leaves coming up near the roots, but I am losing hope about getting a crop this summer.

A whole lot of dead-looking branches sticking out of the ground with a few tiny branches with fig leaves poking out near the roots. The probably former tree is surrounded by false strawberry, violets, and some daffodils.

Limonene@limonene· May 8

I just got trolled pretty hard by a mockingbird; not pictured are the Baltimore oriole and the white-breasted nuthatch that my Merlin app also briefly suggested.

A screenshot from the Merlin app listing its suggestions of Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal, American Robin, Carolina Wren, and Yellow-rumped Warbler

Limonene@limonene· May 1

I’m still keeping up my New Year’s resolution to try a new recipe every month. April was the karpatka from Dobre Dobre, which is basically giant cream puff in the form of a cake. I was inspired by a King Arthur recipe to dollop some cherry jam in with the mousseline filling, and it was delicious!

A karpatka, showing the layers of choux pastry above and below the mousseline cream and cherry jam. There is a light dusting of powdered sugar on top. It’s basically a cream puff in the shape of a cake.

A slice of karpatka, showing the layers of choux pastry surrounding the pastry cream and cherry jam. There is a light dusting of powdered sugar.

Limonene@limonene· Apr 28

Spending yesterday afternoon down the shore and postponing seed-starting and bread-baking until after work today was 100% the right call (even if my bread is a bit sad and over-proofed as a result).

Waves crashing on a sandy beach in front of dark gray boulders. The waves and sky are reflecting a reddish color from the sunset.

Limonene@limonene· Apr 4

I was so thrilled to see digger bees making our yard their home last year, and I love all the different colors of sweat bee we get. I’m happy to see the honeybees, just like I am happy to see sheep—both are livestock that produce things I enjoy.

A fuzzy yellow and black bee starting to dig a perfectly round hole into bare ground with patches of crabgrass around it.

Limonene@limonene· Mar 26

In honor of Opening Day, it’s a bun(d)t cake!

A golden brown, fluted, vanilla Bundt cake rests on a cooling rack on top of the stove.

Limonene@limonene· Mar 22

Went down to Sandy Hook this afternoon in hopes of seeing the seals before they head north again (there’s a spot in the bay where they like to haul out on the rocks at low tide) and also got to see my first osprey of the season! All this on top of last week’s (blurrily photographed) oystercatcher.

A scrubby bay beach surrounded by water. In the distance is a medium-sized black, brown, and white bird with a red beak and a delightfully grumpy expression. It is an out-of-focus oystercatcher.

Limonene@limonene· Mar 14

Happy Pi Day!