Good Day, Sunshine

In contrast to the day before, yesterday was bright and sunny, with not a cloud in the sky. We decided to talk a little walking tour of the historic part of Boulder City, Nevada. We've done this on a previous visit, but took in some new sites yesterday. But first...some slow stitching. Here's yesterday's inchy:

We're down to the last square, which will be released this morning. There's still plenty to do on this piece, however. It's intended to last the entire month of this leap February. I'm sure we'll be revisiting my old frenemy, the bullion stitch before we're finished. Also, I know there is an applique heart and some buttons to be sewn on. All of this stitching and planning exhausts Smitty, my loyal stitching cat.

So then we got out for a walk in Boulder City. The first thing you notice while walking in this area are the many statues and sculptures. Here's the first one we encountered. Boulder City bills itself as the "city that built Hoover Dam," and indeed, it is.

I noticed his brick quilt block on one of the concrete pillars as we passed by.

Everywhere we've been this trip, we've seen rosemary. The bees are all over it.

Across the street was an "outer space museum." It was closed on Sunday, and so we couldn't go in.

Yeah...don't ask me.

Here's another bronze dam worker.

Near the beginning of this walk, we passed by this park.

What a nice place for a picnic.

To the left in the image above was the old turbine you see below.

Here's the plaque with explanatory information.

Here's a little more art work. I thought this was Humpty Dumpty, but it's actually "Eggcited." Although...if you read the titles of his books, he might be planning to put something back together.

The downtown area was home to a lot of birds that were making a racket like a myna bird. If my friend The Google is correct, we are looking at a great-tailed grackle.

We decided to go inside this next structure, the Boulder Dam Hotel. Also, you should know that "Hoover Dam" was originally known as "Boulder Dam." The name was changed in 1947. You can read more about it on its Wikipedia page.

Walking inside, the lobby looks like this.

Walking up those stairs, we arrived at an art gallery and a museum about the construction of the dam. There were no pictures allowed in here, but I snuck this one in of this vintage quilt. I knew you'd want to see it. It was in a part of the museum about the lives of those who worked on the dam.

Back outside, there was art work lining both sides of the street. This one is pretty funny.

Sometimes the signs were as funny as the art.

After our walk, we drove down the main highway to see Lake Mead, formed by the building of the dam.

There is fishing, boating, boat rentals, water-skiing, camping, hiking, mountain biking, and all manner of recreational opportunities here.

We passed by a sign directing us to the Historic Railroad Trail. No doubt we will return to Boulder City at some point in the future, and I'd like to hike the trail then.

When we got back to the RV, we got Smitty out for a walk.

Sadie was manning her post from the catio. She keeps watch and calls out warnings about approaching Mans and woofies.

It gets cool as the sun sets, and so we've been using our little propane fireplace.

But I had in mind to try a new recipe for a desert for two yesterday. These are Lemon Pudding Cakes with Blueberries for Two. Here's how they looked coming out of the oven.

When we were ready to eat them, I inverted them onto a plate and added blueberries and whipped cream.

So here was the challenge I faced with this recipe. I needed superfine sugar. I've searched high and low in three different states, and I haven't been able to find it, even in the larger grocery stories. (I have an idea I might find it at a liquor store, because it's the same sugar used to sugar the rim of a cocktail glass.) Don't confuse it with confectioner's sugar, which is sugar ground to powder. Superfine, also known as "baker's sugar," is still in granular form, but the granules are smaller than with regular granulated sugar. I know it is available because I have some back home, but it's been in short supply in our travels.

When I'm on the hunt for new recipe ingredients, I am relentless however, and so I got an idea to take regular granulated sugar and grind it into a superfine consistency using my mini food processor. For this I needed a dark background to see if my experiment was successful. The lid of the Jif peanut butter jar was perfect for this. So here it is...can you tell which is which?

Pretty hard to see in that picture, and so I inquired of the Resident Engineer if he could tell. He picked the correct one. The one on the left is the homemade superfine, and so I decided that was good enough for me.

They were really good. Here's the recipe if you want to give it a try. Pudding cake...so yummy. My mother used to make it.

Lemon Pudding Cakes with Blueberries for Two
Recipe by Barbara Stanbro
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup superfine sugar
1 egg, separated
1/3 cup reduced fat buttermilk
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
pinch table salt

Garnish

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Whipped Cream (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fareinheit.  Butter and lightly sugar 2 ramekins (about 1 cup size).

In a mixer, add egg yolk, buttermilk, lemon juice and lemon zest and beat until well combined.  Reduce the speed to low and sift in flour, sugar and salt.  Continue to mix until combined.  Beat egg white until you get stiff peaks then combine the 2 mixtures by gently folding them together, a little at a time.  Divide evenly between ramekins then bake in a water bath (set ramekins in a roasting tray and fill with water halfway up the sides of the ramekins).

Bake for 50-60 minutes until the top springs back when gently pressed and the cakes have a nice golden brown color.  Allow to cool slightly, then carefully invert onto a plate.  Serve with fresh berries and a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.

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We're moving on today. We'll be heading to Sedona, Arizona, but we'll be staying in Camp Verde. There are some quilt shops nearby, and so I'll be visiting at least one shop during our visit. Aside from that, it's just a stopping point along the way to Kartchner Caverns State Park in the southern part of Arizona.