Undaunted

It was a day of disappointment yesterday, but I'm not giving up. For one thing, the poppy has pooped out. This morning, I went out to take a look. The bud turned brown yesterday. When I looked at it today, the gap in the green where I could see the petals below had closed. I peeled it back to reveal a rotten and slimy flower inside. Well, poo.

Okay, so there are still 7 buds left on the plant. I'm thinking a blast of summer followed by too much rain did this one in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about the remaining buds. And no way I can blame this guy.

Also, I made this rather labor-intensive Fresh Strawberry Mousse for Two. It looks pretty in its picture, doesn't it?

The recipe appealed to me for many reasons, not the least of which was straining out all the seeds and solids from the strawberry puree. I could make it seedless for Mike without having to cut the seeds of the sides of so many berries. As it stands in the picture above, I cut the seeds of two strawberries for the garnish. I gave Mike the seedless garnish and kept the seedy sides for my own. Then I gave it a little dollop of whipped cream because any good tasting dessert always tastes better with more whipped cream.

So, what's the problem, you ask? Well, it was kind of soupy. It was only barely approaching "mousse" consistency, and was more like eating a very thick strawberry milkshake with a spoon. I made the recipe exactly as written, and so I'm not sure why it failed. I'm going to try it again though...which is what makes me "undaunted"...only this time I'll let it sit overnight. I might also up the amount of unflavored gelatin just a smidge. And, really, I have no idea why this failed. It was flavorful the way we ate it, and so it's worth giving it another try. With strawberries just coming into season, there will be plenty available for practice.

The only thing that went right yesterday was the sewing. One side of the 48 blocks is made now.

I was in the process of cutting the pieces for the other side when I stopped for the day yesterday.

Today I'm going to do all the cutting so that I can get the piles of fabric off my workspace. I need to make up the next block for the Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs quilt. My embroidered barn is coming to a close, and I can't run out of slow stitching to do. Oh no...now that would be a disaster. So Guatemala will need to wait for a bit while I do that, and then I'll get right back to it.

We're invited for dinner at Erik and Mae's house tomorrow for a little Memorial Day celebration. It really has nothing to do with Memorial Day, but it's a good enough excuse. Erik is smoking chicken four different ways in his new smoker barbecue. I'm making two salads today to take along tomorrow. There's plenty to keep me busy today, and so there's no time to waste. But first...a little funeral for the poppy. 😭 We'll be crying buckets of tears.