On Twitching

A couple of weeks ago, I finally did it. I twitched. It was almost involuntary, the urgency was so great.

A little after lunch one day, I checked my inbox. There, waiting for me as usual, was my automated eBird sightings email. I skimmed it as usual, ready to confirm nothing of interest and delete, but then my eyes stopped.

This must be a mistake, I muttered to myself as I rapidly clicked the links for more information. A brambling? No way -- they're a bird that usually resides in Asia. I ran to my trusty bird guide book and checked -- an ABA Code 3! Within minutes I'd gathered up the binoculars, shoes, directions, and my Hiking Buddy to see a wayward bird.

For you non-birders out there, a brambling is a finch-sized bird with a dark head and back and bright rust orange streak on its chest. It's at home in parts of Europe and Asia, but a few find their way to the US each year. This particular brambling was only the fourth ever recorded in Colorado. An ABA (American Birding Association) Code 3 means that only a few are found each year in the US.

As I drove up, I quickly spotted the binocular and scope-laden crowd standing quietly, all seeming to gaze intently at some bushes. Birders in a group are a pretty obvious sight. I parked the car and jumped out, walking quickly (but quietly!) to the group. Feeding on seed left by a previous birder, the brambling dropped in every 20 minutes or so for a quick bite. Standing in the hot sun for what seemed like ages, not daring to move, my optically-enhanced companions and I waited. And waited. The finches feeding on the ground slowly swelled in number, and then, all of a sudden, it was there. Ah!

An audible gasp by all watching scared the brambling away before it had barely landed. It quickly returned, as if it were celebrity non-plussed by its strange paparazzi. I watched it come to feed a couple more times. What a cool bird! I had finally twitched to see a special bird, and it was totally worth it.

Project FeederWatch Time Again!

Last year I really enjoyed participating in Project FeederWatch, a program sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bird Studies Canada.  In case you don't know, Project FeederWatch is a "citizen science" program in which you spend two days every other week (or if you're really into it, every week) recording the number and types of birds at your feeder from November to April.  I like to watch the birds on the weekend while taking extra time to drink my morning coffee. One nice part of the project is that if I can't watch one weekend, or can only watch a little bit, it's okay!  I also like reviewing my records and seeing how the bird population in my yard has changed over the winter.

This year's round started just a couple of weeks ago, and I am already having a blast welcoming the winter birds back to my feeder.  The early arriving and year-round birds are scoping out the yard, vying for the trees and shrubs with the best views of the feeder.  Because I like have excuses to look at data, I decided the beginning of the FeederWatch season was a good time to review last year's numbers for my yard.

FeederWatch lets you retrieve your past season data in a nice summary table which automatically calculates the average number of each species ("group size") seen for the season.  For example, last year a cohort of messy blue jays kept me busy re-filling the feeder. On count days, I always saw at least 3 and as many as 15 different jays on a given day. The group size value is the average size of that gang of jays - 6.1.

I wanted a graphic representation of this data so that I could get a feel for my "average" backyard bird population.  So, I took this data (bird name and average group size) and created a Wordle:

Wow! I suppose I really did see a lot of starlings -- they live year-round in a field nearby. The large presence of red-winged blackbirds surprised me a bit.  Looking at my data records, though, I see that they didn't show up until mid-February, but when they did, there were quite a few of them.

I think it would be interesting to see Wordle's of other people's FeederWatch data -- and I'll definitely make another one at the end of this year's data count.  If you have other unique ideas for visualizing FeederWatch data, I'd love to hear them. For now, I suppose I should get back to keeping that feeder stocked with seed!

Mexican Food Month: Tamales

Mmm, tamales.  I don't think I ever ate tamales growing up. When I first discovered the wonder that is Trader Joe's, I fell in love their frozen green chile cheese tamales. They were extremely filling, portable for lunch, and at a bargain price.  I have since had other tamales with a variety of fillings. 

When I decided have a Mexican food month, tamales were on the top of my list.  Wrapped in their corn husks, they seemed so mysterious. How did the filling and dough get in there? Well, now I know!

Tamales take a long time to make.

First, you make the filling.

Then (or at the same time), you have to soak the corn husks in water.  You can buy a package of the corn husks at the grocery store -- I think the ones I got were from Goya. 

Next, you make the dough.  I found this part tricky. The cookbook I was using, Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican, has about four different tamale dough recipes, all slightly different depending on what type of masa you have. 

Once the husks are soaked and the filling and dough are made, you have to put them together.  Laying the corn husks out flat, you smear some dough on, trying to get it just the right thickness and width. I honestly wasn't sure what those golden dimensions were, but I winged it.  Then, you spoon in some filling, but not too much! Then the husk gets rolled together and tied closed with strips of husk.

Whoo! That was some work. But wait--- you're not done. Now, you get to steam them in a big pot for several hours.  This is how they turned out!

They were really tasty! So tasty, in fact, that they didn't last very long.  Well, that's my adventure for today, catch ya tamale!

Camping at Kenneth Wilson State Campground

Hello, my fun-loving friends!

This past weekend I went camping at Kenneth Wilson State Campground, near Woodstock, NY. It was supposed to thunderstorm Friday night, so Hiking Buddy and I battened-down the hatches on the tent.

This tent is ready for any storm!

There were so many ropes and stakes on that thing, it wasn't going anywhere if a tornado hit it! Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole. Anyway, guess what? No thunderstorm. No wind. Almost no rain. Oh well!

Saturday morning we deviated from our normal oatmeal breakfast and had scrambled eggs with green chiles and cheese instead. Yum! As we were sitting at our picnic table, devouring eggs and slurping coffee, the man with his two sons across the lane were making lots of noise. Throughout our stay, we repeatedly heard excited cries of glee over hot chocolate... he had those kids wired! He also seemed to get really frustrated when they got super hyper, but couldn't seem to understand the cause and effect taking place.

Oh, so back to the story. Right. So, we're sitting there, noisy kids nearby. And who shows up?? A big adult black bear! He moseys through the two empty campsites adjacent to the noisy kids, paying neither them, us, or our eggs any attention. We sat there for a moment just watching in our caffeine-deprived state, not sure what to do. Hiking Buddy's first move: grab the camera. In her excitement, she had trouble getting it to work, but here's our proof of the bear:

 You can see him, right?

It's there, that dark smudge, see?

After that excitement, we decided it was time to get out of the woods and onto the water.  Kenneth Wilson Park has kayaks and canoes for rent!

Enjoying a waterfront view of the Catskills

We had fun paddling around the pond and stream, creeping up on turtles basking in the sun, spying on schools of minnows, and viewing lily pads up close. One of the highlights for me was seeing a belted kingfisher fly by.

After canoeing, we ate lunch on the day-use area lawn, then headed back to camp for a rest. Walking around the campground, we found all kinds of neat mushrooms, plants, and animals.

 A salamander at our campsite

Mushroom, with patriotic beer can for scale

There were blackberry bushes scattered throughout the campground, and we managed to find a few that were ripe.  For dinner, we started a big fire and roasted potatoes and onion in the coals. We grilled corn in the husk on the grate. Yum!

We packed up camp on Sunday morning, then walked the nature trail. It's a really pretty walk by a gurgling stream and through an evergreen forest. We saw many more mushrooms in the woods. For our brunch-time treat, we drove over to Woodstock and ate at a Mediterranean restaurant.

I had a really fun time, and would definitely camp there again.

Mexican Food Month: Roasted Corn

Hey there thrill-seekers!

Have I got something that will thrill your taste buds!

 Wow, I need a haircut, huh?

 

ROASTED CORN!

Growing up, we always had boiled corn. Slathered in butter, salt, and pepper, it was a fun summer treat. But man, it has nothing on this corn.

Roasted corn fresh off the grill.

To roast corn, first get some fresh ears. There's a bumper crop of corn right now, so you should be able to find some for a good price.  Take all but the last layer or two of husk off. Peel that back and remove as much of the silk as you can. Leave the ends (as shown in the picture above) for a convenient handle while eating.  Then, wrap it back up, using a strip of husk to tie the end closed.  Put it on a hot grill, rotating every once and a while.  The corn exposed to the grill gets caramelized, which was a flavor I liked. Next time, I'll let more of the corn get caramelized.

The toppings were what really made this corn awesome.  Here's what you do:

• Take mayonnaise (I know, you're thinking "really??" I thought that, too. Just go with me on this one.) and mix in chipotle sauce to taste. I used the sauce from some canned chipotle chiles, but you could use chipotle hot sauce.  Slather the corn with it, like you would use butter.

• Sprinkle with: feta, fresh chopped cilantro, lime juice, and chili powder if you like it extra spicy.

• Prepare to get messy.

• Eat!

Of the Mexican food I've cooked so far, this is my favorite. Bon Appetit!

Being a Hunter-Gatherer--Lesson 4

Saving Some for Later

Dear Adventurers,

Have you ever had jam so good it makes you wanna slap yo’ mama? No, I don’t mean literally, it’s just a euphemism. But it got your attention, huh?  Well, over the past couple of weeks I made some mama slappin’ jam.

I recently discovered that Hiking Buddy had never been strawberry-picking before.  For me, growing up in the South, this was practically an annual tradition.  I HAD to see this fixed!  We went to Grieg Farm, just a few minutes up the road.  The strawberries were soooo good.  I couldn’t help but sample a couple of them in the field.

Well, isn't this an awkward picture of me?

After picking ‘till our fingers were pink, we brought them home.  It was time to jam. We chose a classic, no pectin strawberry jam recipe from Sherri Vinton Brooks’ food preservation book, Put ‘Em Up!. Every recipe we’ve tried from this has been great so far.  I totally recommend it (the homemade ketchup is killer).  Here’s the strawberries, simmering away to jam:

mmmm, strawberries.

Yum!  It’s really good on toast—a bit less viscous than commercial jam, but with ten times the flavor.  It has really nice caramel undertones, which I suppose came from the long time it took to cook the berries down.

After the first round of jam-making, it was so good we decided to make more. The second time was definitely easier, since I’m still new to canning.  We made a double batch of strawberry jam and a double batch of spicy pickled carrots.  They go really well with a grilled cheese sandwich and soup on a cold day.  I hid some in the back of the pantry so I’ll have a nice surprise this fall!

The farmstands around here are starting to gear up on produce, so I’m looking forward to the next bumper crop of cannable food. 

Are you canning anything? Have a recipe that’ll make you want to slap yo’ mama? Please share!

Iron Chef Challenge... In My Apartment

The gauntlet has been thrown! The challenge made, cookbooks checked out from the local library, websites searched, taste buds are armed and ready. What am I talking about? This month has been declared "Learn to Cook Mexican" month.

In January, Hiking Buddy and I did this with Indian food. We spent a month cooking our way through cookbooks and online recipes, learning methods commonly used, spice combinations and flavor profiles we liked. We based Indian month mostly off of Suvir Saran and Stephanie Lyness' excellent Indian Home Cooking. That's currently my favorite cookbook. After all that cooking we had to show off our skills, so we had a party! Hours of planning, two full days of cooking, thirty guests, and more food than I thought possible for us to eat.

Indian Food Party Menu -- we made everything from scratch except the mango chutney and ice cream!

It was really great food and a fun time. The guests must have come hungry, because leftovers were scarce! The best part of that party was finding out how well we'd mastered the recipes, and how in sync we were with getting the cooking done seamlessly with two chefs in a small kitchen. That month of cooking made me much more confident in the kitchen, and, I think, a better cook.

After having Indian month and such a big (for me, at least) party, we needed a break from cooking. I spent a month of cooler weather learning to bake bread and perfecting my pizza-making skills, but not attempting anything revolutionary. Ok, so the bread was pretty revolutionary to me. I used Jim Lahey's no-knead bread making method, from his cookbook, My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method.

mmm... pizza

Home-made olive bread

Home-made bread using Jim Lahey's no-knead method

But now, without air conditioning in the apartment, it's too hot to use the oven. The time is here for lighter fare -- salads, sandwiches, fresh veggies, and grilling outdoors.

Since Indian food month was such a success, I began to think about other styles of food I'd like to learn. I love Italian food -- but that seemed more appropriate for cooler months, when I can bake lasagna, manicotti, and stuff myself silly with warm, cheesy pasta. Thai would be good, but not it. Mexican, though. Mexican sounds just right. Lots of fresh tomatoes and cilantro, lots of spicy, and a healthy serving of cheesiness. Oh, and cooking Mexican all month gives me an excuse to hone my Margarita-making skills, right?

Just as we used Indian Home Cooking as the cornerstone for Indian month, it appears as though Rick Bayless' "Mexican Everyday" will serve to anchor Mexican month. It has streamlined recipes designed to be cookable everyday of the week. Yum.  The local librarians (am I so much of a nerd that they not only know my name, will check me out books without my card, but they even order me things they think I'll like without asking? fine by me!) have ordered me a book on "Mexican Ice Pops" as well, and I can only imagine what that entails.

Well, I better get cooking!