Widow's Endorphins: Lilacs...Ah, the Memories!

Widow's Endorphins: Lilacs...Ah, the Memories!: It's the fragrance that we remember.  The unforgettable scent of lilacs, carried on a warm breeze, evokes memories of happy childh...

Lilacs...Ah, the Memories!

It's the fragrance that we remember.  The unforgettable scent of lilacs, carried on a warm breeze, evokes memories of happy childhoods, and youthful romance.  Many people recall falling asleep, with the fragrance of lilacs wafting in through an open bedroom window.

You can't say, or even think the word, 'lilac' without mentally inhaling the sweet, fresh fragrance. Instantly recognizable, it is a difficult scent to describe:  sweet, heavy, fresh.  Part of the difficulty has to do with our brains. Olfactory processing takes place in the right side of the brain, while language is processed on the left side.  It is also a unique fragrance.  Peonies smell like roses. Lilacs smell like... lilacs. 

Although the fragrance is intoxicating, lilacs are not sexy.  They're sensual, romantic, and comforting. The memories they invoke are those of home, happiness, and the heart (after all, they have heart-shaped leaves).  Lilacs are a flower of whistful nostalgia, and bright eyed optimism.  They're sometimes referred to as, heavenly. 

Lilacs are an old-fashioned flower, loved by hipsters and great grandmothers.  Even in today's world of iphones and tablets, lilacs will grace a teacher's desk on the last few days of school.  A single stem in a simple vase, perched on a kitchen windowsill is charming.  An armful of lilac blooms, whether displayed in a vintage wicker bicycle basket, or an antique silver urn, has an air of gentility. 

Lilacs are a branch of the olive family.  While olives and olive oil will be found on many restaurant tables, lilacs are rarely found on a dining table.  Their fragrance fills a room, and will sometimes overpower, or contradict the food being served. Lilacs are ideally placed at the doorway, to greet arriving guests.

A thousand years ago, one of the biology teachers in my highschool, had an annual class project, which like it or not, involved the entire school.  As an end-of-year project, Mr. M. would place the lab tables side by side in a huge rectangle around the room.  He would cover the surface of each table with thick sheets of newspaper, and paper towels, and lay more newspaper on the entire floor.  He would then proceed to circle the room with the entire stomach of a cow!  All four compartments!

After only one day in a hot classroom, dead meat stinks!  The project would usually begin on a Monday.  The putrid stench emerging from the biology lab, creeping down the hall, and climbing the staircase, to fill the entire wing of the school within days.  Opening all the windows made little difference.  Mr. M's solution?  He would spray the classroom, and hallways with thick clouds of a popular, but cheap lilac scented room freshener.  It only made things worse!

It says much about the power of the pure, fresh scent of real lilacs, that even that nauseating memory is almost forgotten, when I think of lilacs.      

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Victoria Day In and Out of the Garden

Widow's Endorphins: Victoria Day In and Out of the Garden: My Victoria Day long weekend plans have had cold water poured on them!  Victoria Day is the unofficial start of Summer in Canada, and ...

Victoria Day In and Out of the Garden

My Victoria Day long weekend plans have had cold water poured on them!  Victoria Day is the unofficial start of Summer in Canada, and it is a Canadian rite of Summer, to work in the garden at least one day of the long weekend.  It's been pouring rain, and bitterly cold in Toronto.  So, I've turned to my blog, to share my virtual garden with you.

The Victoria Day weekend began on a high note.  Saturday morning was brilliantly sunny.  Cold, but sunny.  My Brazilian friend and I headed to a busy garden centre, looking for plants for my balcony garden.  After a long Winter of white and grey, and bare branches, the vibrant, intense colours of this year's annuals were hypnotic.

The first flowers to catch my eye were sunset coloured Passion Fruit Dahlias.   I love the blend of coral pink, and apricot colours!  Dahlias are sun worshippers, so these are going in South facing windowboxes, where they'll get at least six hours of direct sunlight a day. 

I have often planted fuchsia beneath taller dahlias or geraniums, giving the sun-sensitive fuchsias partial shade.  Look at these cascading fuchsia blossoms! 

The coral pink of the fuchsia petals are a close match for the coral pink dahlias...

We were strolling through the flower-filled parking lot, when a rack of vibrant and bright, Dark Get Mee Campanula caught my eye.  It is a wonderful compliment to the coral pink of the other flowers. Campanulas enjoy 3 to 6 hours of morning or late afternoon sun, in other words, they need to be tucked under other plants for shade.

And then it happened...my friend saw this gorgeous beauty hidden in a far bottom corner of a rack of fuchsia plants.  It took my breath away!
    

Fuchsias bloom from Summer, through Fall.  Over and over again.  While fuchsia blossoms are exquisite cascading from a hanging basket, Toronto's infamous windstorms have been known to toss hanging baskets off balconies, endangering anyone below.  In a high wind, these little ballerinas, look like Can-Can dancers at Cirque du Soleil.  They'll be potted in a sturdy, heavy container.

I also brought home this lovely, although nameless, dahlia.  In Saturday's sunshine, it looked more blue, than it did in Sunday's rain.  This one too, will be placed in full sun, where it will bloom perhaps as late as November.

For the first time, since moving to Toronto, one of my roses survived the Winter.  It doesn't have a tag, so I have no idea what it is.  I'll know for sure in about two or three weeks.  I think it was this one...

I am really curious about one of the roses which I brought home on Saturday.  It won't bloom for about two weeks.  The tag shows a dusky, almost purple floribunda rose.  Dramatically named Ebb Tide, it was another of my friend's great finds.  It has a spicy, clove fragrance similar to carnations.

A rose that I have photographed many times over the years, is the Chicago Peace Rose, and I brought another one home for this year's balcony.  As the blossoms age, the colours of the rose petals evolve from deep pink, to apricot, to the palest yellow, making it an ever-changing, always fascinating rose to photograph.

There are still more plants to add to the garden.  In addition to the geraniums or petunias, there are smaller flowers to fill in the window boxes and planters.  Mint, rosemary, and lavender also grow wonderfully on the balcony, and they combine beautifully with other container flowers.

Saturday and Sunday were too cold to get any planting done.  This morning, I woke up to sunshine! It's going to be a perfect day for planting!  The long range forecast:  the balcony will be ready within a week!

Happy Victoria Day!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Happy Mothers' Day!

Widow's Endorphins: Happy Mothers' Day!: A bouquet of pink and white Ranunculus to wish a Happy Mothers' Day to all Mums, Moms, Mamas, stepmothers, adoptive mothers, grand...

Happy Mothers' Day!

A bouquet of pink and white Ranunculus to wish a Happy Mothers' Day to all Mums, Moms, Mamas, stepmothers, adoptive mothers, grandmas, and mother figures who love, nurture and protect us - always!

Photograph Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Crabapples

Widow's Endorphins: Crabapples: Glorious Crabapple trees are now in full flower in Toronto.  The trees, which will produce bitter little apples in the Fall, have the ...

Crabapples

Glorious Crabapple trees are now in full flower in Toronto.  The trees, which will produce bitter little apples in the Fall, have the sweetest Spring blossoms.  Crabapples are members of the Rosaceae family of flowering plants, which includes apples and roses.  The blossoms are white, light pink, mauve pink, deep pink, and carmine.  Some trees have flowers with five petals, while the semi-double blossoms have six to ten petals, and the double blossoms more than ten petals.  The double blossoms look like roses.

How did something so pretty ever get the moniker, "crab" apple?  It may be derived from the Scottish word, scrab, or scrabbe, which in turn may have come from the Old Norse, and later Swedish word, scabba for, "fruit of the wild apple tree".  Or, perhaps it has to do with how people, "crab on" about the sour, bitter taste, after they've bitten into a rock-hard little apple.

Don't let the wicked taste of the raw fruit fool you.  They are a heavenly delicacy!  Crabapple Jelly on a buttered, toasted English muffin, with a thin slice of Cheddar cheese is delicious.  Spiced Crabapples, served alongside a Roast of Pork are divine.

The tiny apples are packed with pectin, the natural thickener that makes jelly gel.  Unlike other fruit jelly and jam recipes that call for adding pectin, Crabapple's come fully loaded.  Unripened Crabapples have more pectin, while ripened apples have more flavour.  You can tell the difference by cutting one open, and looking at the seeds:  an unripened Crabapple will have light coloured seeds, while a ripe apple will have dark brown seeds.  One recipe says to provide the right balance between pectin and flavour, have about a quarter of the apples unripened, and the other seventy-five percent ripened.

It will be late September, before the Crabapples will be ready for harvest.  Meanwhile, anytime is a good time to read a recipe or two.  In researching on-line, I found two simple recipes for Crabapple Jelly and Spiced Crabapples.  One uses sugar, while the other uses honey. Crabapples are often spiced with cinnamon and cloves, and I found one recipe which uses cracked cardamom seeds.  Between now and Autumn harvest, you'll probably come up with the perfect recipe for the little apples.  It will also give you time to read up on the do's and don'ts of simple home canning.

Crabapple Jelly

6 Pounds (2.72 Kg) Crabapples

4 1/2 Cups (900 grams) Sugar

6 Cups (1.4 L) Water

Thoroughly wash the Crabapples.  Remove only the stems and blossom ends of the Crabapples.  The pectin is found in the apple peel and core, so do not peel or core the apples.

Place the apples in a large pot, and cover them with the water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the apples are softened.

Use a potato masher to crush the apples.  Cook for another 5 minutes.

This recipe instructs us to wet, and wring out a jelly bag and suspend it on a frame, over a large measuring cup or bowl.  I had to Google it, to see what the heck they were talking about.  Other recipes simply say to use a colander or strainer, lined with damp cheesecloth, and place this over a large bowl.  Fill the jelly bag, or cheesecloth liner with the cooked apples.

At this point, read a book, go for a walk, watch a movie, or go to bed, because it takes a minimum of two hours - even overnight - for all of the juice to drip into the bowl.  You may be tempted to squeeze the juices out of the jelly bag.  It will certainly extract more flavour, however, if you want crystal clear jelly, it's best not to squeeze the juices out.  Your kitchen, your call!

Measure out 6 1/2 Cups (1.62 L) of juice.  If there isn't enough, you can add up to 1 1/2 Cups (375 ml) of water to the juice.

In a large pot, bring the juice and sugar to a full rolling boil over medium heat.  It will take about 15 to 18 minutes for the juice to reach gel stage.  Remove from heat, and skim off any foam.

Fill hot, sterilized 1 Cup (250 ml) jars.  Leave 1/4 inch (5 mm) space at the top of the jar.  Cover with sterilized lids, and screw the bands on.  Boil the filled jars in boiling water for 10 minutes.

Use tongs and oven mitts to remove the hot jars from the canning bath, and set them on a kitchen towel.  Over the next few hours, you'll hear the soft,"ping" sound of the lids sealing.  Music to your ears!

That's it!

The recipe for Spiced Crabapples is even easier...

Spiced Crabapples

5 Pounds (2.26 Kg) Crabapples

6 Cups (1.4 L) Water
1 3/4 Cups (595 g) Honey
3 Cinnamon Sticks

Clean the apples, and remove only the stems and blossom ends.  Leave the pectin-rich apple peel and core intact.  Prick the apples, so that the Honey Cinnamon Syrup can be absorbed.  The pricking will also help prevent the apples from splitting open.

In a large pot, dissolve the honey into the water, add the cinnamon sticks, and simmer on the stove for 5 minutes.  Add the apples, and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Put the poached Crabapples in sterilized glass jars, and fill with the syrup.  Leave about 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) of space at the top.  At this point, some recipes say to use a spoon or chopsticks to release any airbubbles in the jars.  Cover each jar with a sterilized lid, and screw the band onto the jar. Place the jars in a canning bath, and boil for 20 minutes.

Using oven mitts, and tongs, remove the hot jars from the canning bath, and set them on a kitchen towel.  While waiting for that lovely, "ping" sound, make pretty labels, and take pictures of the glistening jars of Spiced Crabapples.

As my Dad used to say, how do you like them apples?

Crabapple blossoms last only a week or two, but you can make a lasting impression with this bodycon dress and matching draped kimono, both now available in my Art of Where on-line shop!

http://bit.do/AOWbodycon
http://bit.do/drapedkimono

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.