Virtual Australia: Experiencing (Real) Tasmanian Honey

Our honey arrived from Tasmania, Australia.

Genuine Leatherwood Honey.

This honey is mono-floral...meaning most of its pollen was taken from a single source. In this case the towering Leatherwood trees in the Tasmanian interior and on its West Coast.

Flower (close up)

The areas the Leatherwood trees grow is so remote that hives are brought in by special rail built just for that purpose...and in some instances even airlifted into place.

 Truck-Train car filled with hives.

To transport to the interior.

Airlifting Hives.

So that these little guys can work their magic.

The type of honeybees used are an Italian Variation which withstand the Tasmanian heat, are better behaved, and produce longer in the season.

Tasmania produced 1000 tonnes of honey annually. 

With eBay (and Paypal) we now have 12.3 ounces of a ton.  Bringing the world to our fingertips through a mouse-click.

Production

https://youtu.be/5XJpOKbYDXc

Now...let's try the honey.

Arriving in a tin (not glass) was a surprise. When the tin is opened the interior is sealed with the thin oxidized aluminum seal you find on the outer necks and over the corks of wine bottles.

Soft and easily cut through.

At this point I was somewhat taken aback. It didn't resemble any honey I had tried (and I have tried a lot of varieties)
Both the colour, opaqueness and consistency resembled contact cement (rubber glue) rather than honey.

Colour and Consistency.

As a matter-of-fact, if it had not smelled so wonderful...our experiment might have ended right here.

(...says the woman who has put rattlesnake meat, haggis, and octopus in her mouth...)

But it smelled incredible. Really really incredible.

And true to the hype...tasted even better.

There is a rich wildness in this strong uniquely flavoured honey I have never experienced before. It overcame the opaqueness, odd coloration and consistency.

The best description I can give is that this honey tastes just like Honey Locust Trees smell when they bloom in Spring.

Not closely, or similar...exactly like.

So much so, that I stopped to research if our Honey Locust in Indiana were
Leatherwoods...but under a different name...or closely related to Leatherwoods.

They are neither.

The flavour lingers.
An amazing aftertaste- long after you have swallowed.

I have now tried it as a spread on toast, in hot tea, and straight off the tip of a spoon. It is not an overly sweet honey and best in small amounts. Very strong.

Anxious to bake with it and maybe try my hand at honey candy.

 Try some for yourself...and prepare to be pleasantly surprised!


More anon...

A Brenden and Grandma Rose Day...and This Week

A nice end to school, promoted to 3rd grade, and beginning of Summer Break as Brenden and I enjoyed our 1:1 You Choose day together yesterday  :)

Beginning with brunch at DQ.

He saved some of his birthday $$ and found these while we were shopping.

and brought me up-to-date with one of his musical interests:  Matty B.

We baked cookies for him to share with everybody at home...and then he put his game face on...

He is learning fast and getting much better about watching the board for move and counter-moves. Bill and I got his Dad- and both of his uncles (Chris and Lennon)- interested in game when they were about his age.

A wonderful Grandma Rose Day.

Played in the border and patio gardens after he left. Finally plated my Flat Italian Parsley finishing out the herb basket...and the Valerian Seeds arrived...so I was able to get them potted, too. The Catnip and Chamomile are already up.

Going to make some wonderful teas this Fall.

The Mandevilla is covered with blooms and buds.

"Jane" (wisteria) is much happier outside and doing well. Her blooms are now spent and watching for the re-bloom they promised.

The Purple Flag Irises are finished as well.

My Morning Glories are sprouted about an inch and will soon be winding their way up the trellis.

Planted some petunias in the same deep pink as the geranium and my Mandevilla.

Cleaned up the borders and dead-headed the spent Daffodils and Muscari.

Both rose bushes have multiple buds...but no blooms yet.

Soon!

Already beginning to use the Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, and Basil...and have pinched everything back twice now (to encourage bushiness and new growth)

The sunflower seedlings are up about 3 inches.

Nicole shared a lily before and after shot (her last year...and her this year) and it is amazing...had to share

                                                            (last year)

                                                          (this year)

The amazing shrinking woman! I think she said she is down to a size 10 now...from a 24. It is incredible. So proud of you, hon.  The kids are, too. Brenden told me all excited

"Mommy did a front flip and a backflip on the trampoline the other day!!!"

They notice!

This Week's Book:

Outstanding beginning...drawing you in from the very first page. An exciting reunion of characters from novels past (...although you didn't have to kill off Bill Hodges with cancer, you heartless bastard)

All and all riveting and well written...right up until

THE ENDING.

sigh

King's endings tend to be very good...or uniformly bad.

                                    (think IT)

So I both enjoyed it very much-

"Can't sleep...eat...talk...reading"

and tossed it across the room at the end

"Oh for fuck's sake!!!"

Try it...your experience may vary.


And now...The Movie...

Ready or not...you have had a week to see it...

Dealpool 2

Here goes-

Our favorite Merc with a Mouth is back...and funnier than ever.

From the opening scene when he winds up a music box with Wolverine impaled on the top (Air Supply's- All Out of Love) atop many barrels of fuel...flicking a lit cigarette into the air.

Then taking us back to 6 weeks earlier to explain why he is in the funk he is in.

To the 5 Easter Eggs after the credits.

My favorite one-

Shooting Green Lantern.

"You're Welcome, Canada!"

This is the raunchy, foul mouthed, funniest Deadpool yet!

He doesn't just break the fourth wall...he joins us in the audience with popcorn.

So much going on with Cable, Colossus, Deadpool, Firefist and Juggernaut you will see this over and over...and each time you will pick up on something new!

It took a second viewing for me to pick up on what the Greek Chorus was singing in the background during one of the major fight scenes

"...oh holy shit balls..." (repeatedly in Greek Chorus Style)

Best lines of the film

"Scoutmaster Kevin?" DP


"Fucksomeshitup is my middle name."   Juggernaut

A must see!!!

REPEATEDLY!


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Virtual Australia: Tassie Cuisine

Tasmanian Cuisine is known for its freshness and use of locally made/grown products. Cheeses and fruits and shellfish of all types. Everything that creeps in  a river or swims in the sea. Fine locally made wines and honey produced from the Leatherwood trees. Yogurts and curries.  Triangles of pastry filled with cream sauce and scallops. Pasta tossed with fresh shrimp, peppers and tomatoes.

Today we will make:

Stuffed Crab with a Side of Pasta tossed with Fresh Tomatoes, Garlic, Shrimp, Peppers and Basil.

Blue Crab boiled in crab seasoning...then the meat picked out and mixed with bread crumbs...butter...chopped red peppers...onion...and a touch of dried mustard.

Mix meat and spices and bread, butter...well. Then re-stuff in empty shell of crab.

Lightly brown top in 350 degree oven.

Serve while hot.

Pasta Side with Shrimp

Any pasta (I used Fettucini)

Large pre-boiled shrimp...de-veined and tails removed.

Tomatoes cut into chunks.

Green Bell Pepper cut into chunks. (can also add red pepper for color)

Minced Garlic

Butter

Fresh Basil chopped and rosettes for garnishing.

Boil pasta and drain.

In medium deep skillet add butter, shrimp, tomatoes, garlic and chopped basil...cook until shrimp is slightly browned, tomatoes, peppers and garlic are soft.

Top drained pasta and serve immediately.


(...you will note I top mine with shaved Parmesan cheese...optional, but delicious)

I have Leatherwood Honey on its way...as soon as it arrives we will discover it together!

 Leatherwood Honey is rare and is only produced in Tasmania.

More Anon...

Rose and Idgy's Spring Adventure 2018

Friends...don't let friends drink...
                                              and accessorize The Cat.

Just saying.

 
Wonderful end of the week adventure together!

Coffee and Biscotti every morning.

Tried the New Coffee, Che (her son), discovered

 To paraphrase Robin Williams.

"This isn't a coffee for drinking. This is a coffee for laying down and avoiding."

Billed as the world's strongest coffee.

I have a different take on it.

This is Ex-Husband (or Ex-Wife) Coffee.

Vile, Horribly Bitter, Generally Useless, and
You're probably never going to let it back in your home again.

Seriously.


We enjoyed Mexican out...and cooked in a bit.

We plundered Hobby Lobby...found canvases, and I fell in love with this little vase.

(...Irises are cuttings from mine...)

We painted together.

Her's modeled (..and titled: Emotional Comfort) after the REAL story of a woman (an artist) who attempted to board an airline recently with her emotional support service animal...a peacock.

Prompting United and Delta Airlines to make a list (effective in July) of service animals restricted from planes.

Partial list:

• Amphibians
• Ferrets
• Goats
• Hedgehogs
• Insects
• Reptiles
• Rodents
• Snakes
• Spiders
• Sugar gliders

Peacocks seem auspicious in their absence...and apparently you can STILL bring your miniature horse/pony as a service animal...

Are there people who actually have Service Spiders?
Is a Service Tarantula a thing???

Anyway...

We manage to combine our Birthdays without burning the apartment down.

This is what Hagen-Daz and Thin Mints were made for...and I still think The Flaming Thin Mints would be a great Alternative Band name.

Although, I am not sure the Thin Mints are working.
Not feeling any thinner...

Idgy brought me this

Which was a wonderful combination of Recipes...Jackson Pollock Photos and Art...and some interesting facts I had never known about America's "drippy" modern artist.

I kind of want to do a Julia-Julia Approach with this Cookbook!

Also some fresh pecans from her own tree!

Then, there was the wine...and chat...and memories...reflection...and making new memories...oh...and more wine.

Which kind of brings us right back around to "Shades on the Cat".

Always over too soon.
This morning's coffee and biscotti...back in "The Box".

Missing you already!


While she and I were having our holiday...my almost 12 year old grand-daughter was experiencing her very first formal dance.

So grown up now!

There was this wedding across the pond.
Perhaps you heard.

And the lava rivers from Hawaii's volcanic eruption reached the Pacific ocean creating the Newest land on Earth.

Other things that blew their top, this Sunday?

This Guy.

Who unleashed the fury of Twitter with a series of 5 tweets...each more unhinged than the last lambasting the Department of Justice...Mueller...The FBI...in the last stating that Monday morning he was going to DEMAND things change.

Really????

Because I am pretty sure this STILL isn't a dictatorship and even more sure that the DOJ...FBI...and Mueller couldn't give a flying fuck what this Marmalade Tyrant-Wanna-Be demands.

I am way past saying that this isn't the way presidential people or people who aren't guilty act...hell...this isn't the way SANE people act!

But, it's going to be entertaining.

And lastly...speaking of entertaining...

Saw this on Sunday Night.

No spoilers...yet. Because so many haven't seen it...but OMFG!!!!!

If you haven't seen it yet...walk...run...crawl if you have to...but go see this movie.

Better than even Infinity Wars...which was Outstanding!

A Must See. 

(...are you still sitting here??? Log out and see this film...seriously...now go...)



Back to Virtual Tasmania Tomorrow!

More Anon...