Know Your Flowering Trees!!

This is the view I wake up to for the next precious few days: a cloud of Bradford Pear blooms and the particular scent they carry. Now Father R doesn't share my enthusiasm for them. He says it smells like "dead fish." ("Then it's followed by a lilac-y smell, but first it's dead fish! I lived here for three years before I figured out that I was smelling those trees!") I admit it isn't exactly honeysuckle, but dead fish?

Oh, well.


The point here is not scent-bashing , but a quick flowering tree ID session. There are so many out there in our Mid-Atlantic area right now, all blooming their big, fluffy heads off and all hoping it doesn't either: a) freeze; b) storm; or c) blow a gale force wind. At this moment they're getting C.

See the Jefferson Memorial in the background?



Always ask someone with a good camera around their neck to take your picture.








Then there's also the  National Cherry Blossom Festival which is winding down, but living a few miles north means our trees are just peaking. The pleasure Mei Wei and I enjoyed on a record-setting day a week ago in DC is now extended to our own garden.


So it seems fitting that we start with...

The Yoshino or Flowering Cherry

Look for smoothish bark with horizontal cracks, a bright green leaf that doesn't come out  until the flowers are passing peak, and pale pink flowers with 5 simple heart-shaped petals. The Japanese cherish them as a symbol of the beauty, but also fragility of life. The Festival this year, a bare few weeks  after the earthquake, was especially poignant.

The Weeping Cherry

This one's easy. Beautiful, drooping branches loaded with medium pink blossoms. Like a pink waterfall in the garden.

Doubled pink blossoms of Weeping Cherry

The Bradford Pear.

Probably confused with the Yoshino Cherry because it blooms at the same time. However, notice the flowers are white with a slight greenish cast, and the general shape of the tree is upright. The Yoshino has a spreading habit like a small oak. 

The Bradford was the tree of choice for lining modern suburban neighborhoods until its ugly habit of losing huge limbs--even splitting in half--from storms made it more eye-sore than eye-catching. That's what happens when science (in this case hybridization) tries to play God. The branches simply can't support themselves. If you're going to plant one, plan to prune it regularly.





The Redbud Tree

Not as nice as mine, the neighbor's seems to be dying.

Still in bud.

 Also called the Judas Tree, its small reddish- purple flowers seem to creep up and down branches like blood oozing from its pores. Blooming during the Lenten season, it's easy to see how it was named. Despite the creepy description, it's really a lovely and unusual tree, particularly its growth habit: long, thin, many-twigged branches twisting about in sinuous movement. In my photo, the tree has not quite bloomed as they come in a bit after the Yosihino.






The Kwanzan Cherry

Not my pic, but when mine blooms, I'm gonna take one just like it!

This was my childhood favorite, planted by my mother next to a stream, that my girlfriends and I climbed all season. You could imagine a lot of lovely things inside a pink cloud. When the breeze blew, down would come pink rain. It could also conjure petals thrown at Cinderella weddings held just for us.
Sadly, cherry life-expectancies are comparatively short and on my last visit home, I discovered only the trace of a stump from my old friend.

The Kwanzan blooms after the Yoshino, so having both in the garden will extend the flowering tree joy. Its double blooms are gi-hu-normous for a flowering tree, like small carnations. The color is medium pink. It's not as graceful what with all those big blossoms but it sure stands out. You can't not notice it.



The Flowering Plum

Notice the Yoshino behind it. See the difference?

This one can easily be confused with the Yoshino Cherry. They're blooming at the same time, the shape is similar and the blossom is almost that same pale pink. Almost, but a little pinker. And smaller. AND the leaves are coming out and are PLUM colored. So look for leaves!








Finally:
The Flowering Crabapple

This one mimics the Flowering Plum in foliage color, but the hint is that it comes out later, not at the same time as the cherries. In addition, the blossoms are large, and very pink. We had a lot of fun in this one as kids too! After the pink snow season, you could throw the crabs at boys.



This should help you figure out what you're passing when you drive through town. It's not exhaustive; there are still apple trees, and (edible) cherry trees, and others I might just be forgetting, but the ones here are the ones you're likely to see in the 'burbs. Now, go grab your kids, your sketchbook, and some lunch and enjoy some spring nature study!


For more about the National Cherry Blossom Festival, go here. 
To learn about the trees planted there, go here.

Cooking Mei's Way: Chicken Tagine with Couscous

I'm going to let my sidekick do the blogging today.

Hi, I'm Mei Wei and I love to cook. 
I am studying about Marco Polo. The Silk Road was a trade route from Italy to "Cathay" (which we call China today) during the Middle Ages that was used for trading.  They traded silk, salt, pepper, spices, dyes, jewels, pearls, and gold. Europe needed the Silk Road to bring spices, salt and pepper which allowed them to store food without it going bad. Plus it tasted good!
A tagine is a stew from Morocco which is in Africa. The Silk Road did not go through Africa, but the ingredients in a tagine are similar to what Marco would have traded for to use at home in Venice, Italy.
When you eat this you can feel like you're Marco Polo! 
You could prep this in advance. Then just cook it the next day.


Chicken Tagine with Couscous

Prep Time: 20 Minutes                                                     Ready in: 2 hrs. 55 min.
Cook time: 2 hrs. 30 min.                                                 Serves: 6 adults

Ingredients

We left the carrots out of the picture. Sorry.

• 1 3/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast or thighs - cut into 1 inch pieces (We used thighs)
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries or raisins
• 1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder (optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 cup couscous
• 1 cup boiling water

Make it!

Step 1: Have your mom or dad cut up the chicken. You can do the rest with help. My mom decided to brown the chicken, too.

I love to peel carrots.

Dad taught me how to use a knife. That is a tatoo on my hand.

 Step 2:  Make the sauce. Whisk the chicken broth, tomato paste, lemon juice, all-purpose flour (which we did not photograph), ginger, cinnamon, cumin, and black pepper. If you want you can add curry powder and cayenne pepper. We used the curry, but not the cayenne. Too spicy for me.

Grinding pepper is fun!

Whisk the sauce.

Step 3:  Dump, dump, dump the chicken, onions, carrots, apricots, and cranberries or raisins into a 4 quart crockpot. Dump the sauce in too. Cook for 2 hours and 30 minutes on High or 5 hours on Low.

Dump in everything.

Looks good!

Step 4: Make the couscous like it says on the package.Serve the tagine with the couscous.

We watched Cooking Channel and they said that in Morocco everyone in the family sits around the table and eats from one big dish. They take some couscous in their hand and make it into a ball. Then they eat it with their hands. 

Eat it!

Here is the tagine and the couscous!
It smells really good. Go to the bottom to see what my mom and dad said. And a surprise!!!

Can you smell it?

  We all really liked it, but I liked the apricots better uncooked. Mom and Dad added hot sauce. And Dad said next time it would be good topped with yogurt and with pita bread and hummus. I like hummus too!

Mr. Bingley even liked it, but he had to get it in the DISHWASHER!!!!

Let me know if you like this!! Leave a Comment!!

Nature Notes: Farewell Winter (I hope)

Thinking we're out of the woods weather-wise, I'd like to post a slide show of some of our favorite scenes from this past winter. For us in Maryland, we got off pretty easy, especially compared to New York New Jersey, and Boston. I shudder at the thought remembering our own winter hell last year.
Enjoy the show, and to Old Man Winter, maybe next year...

Menu Plan: Spring Is Here!

In keeping with the first week of spring, I have planned some menus that take advantage of seasonal ingredients and spring-y flavors! 
 
Monday
Chicken with Asparagus and Roasted Red Peppers
Mediterranean Chop Salad


Tuesday BUSY DAY! Riding lesson, Pioneer Girl Club and Staff Meeting: Meal on the Run
Frozen entree


Wednesday Bible Study and Errands: Go with Slow! (cooked that is!)
Father R requested this. He loves it!
Sour Cream Pork Chops  
over egg noodles with applesauce

Thursday Vegetarian Day
Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
Green salad, Italian Bread


Friday "Light Night"
Lemon Rosemary Salmon 
Tangy Sugar Snap Peas
Norwegian Parsley Potatoes 

Saturday
Eat Out!

Sunday
Father R's Choice


Have a great SPRING-Y week (even if your weather doesn't feel that way!)
"Spring" over to Menu Plan Monday for more tasty ways to enjoy spring!

Got a fav spring recipe to try? Tell Mother all about it!

Sir Ken Robinson on Homeschooling

I recently stumbled upon Sir Ken Robinson's answer to tweets on homeschooling and knew this was something that was quite necessary to impart. (Look! I'm already starting to lapse into Brit-speak.)

Who is Sir Ken Robinson? I confess I didn't know until I was looking for people to follow on Twitter. But apparently I'm the only person in the education world who doesn't.
If you're the other person, here's what "they" are saying about Sir Ken. His mission:

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

And from the media, this urgent appeal:

"Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

                                                                        ---BBC Radio 4

Educating creative thinkers. Indeed. A Charlotte Mason idea if I ever saw one.
As children of a creative God, I argue that we are mandated to develop creative thinking in our children, the kind of thinking that will find ways to enact change in our culture, thus honoring their Creator. With its ability to customize the educational needs of our students, we have a distinct advantage for our children's education and should consider developing creative thinking as a goal of every homeschooling  family.

In this video, Sir Ken speaks elegantly and thoughtfully on homeschooling and what public schools can learn from it. My thanks to SwitchedOnMom at "The More Child".
( You can silence this blog's background soundtrack at the bottom of the page.)