Lunch for Tom's 69th Birthday

  Yesterday Eric offered to stop by and show me how he makes Eggplant Parmesan. When he arrived we went out to the garden and picked a couple of eggplant. They can't get fresher than this.

 Eric says he prefers eggplant pealed, that the peel is bitter (most restaurants do not do this step). 

 We dipped each slice of eggplant in an egg wash, slightly diluted with a little water. And then Eric quickly fried them in a small amount of vegetable oil. I think I would like them just this way, too ... without baking the result in a 350° oven, smothered with layers of shredded Parmesan cheese and tomato sauce.

 The final dish was quite spectacular, crispy-edged eggplant  beneath tomatoes and cheese.

 We also had homemade bread that I made yesterday.

 And Tom's favorite Coca Cola cake made the day before ...

 I also bought a head of iceberg lettuce and we had no salads with Italian dressing, too.

 All told it was a nice birthday lunch and I picked up another kitchen skill to boot.

Coconut Cake with a Twist

  I think of all the easy desserts I make, I enjoy the Coconut Cake best. It's so simple and yet seems somehow elegant to me. One square of the cake just fits the bill for a heavenly dessert.

 I have considered a number of times making a change. Why not add different kinds of puddings to the topping? I've always used vanilla. I decided I wanted to try pistachio first. It produced a pastel green topping that is striking ... and delicious!

 For as simple as this is, it'd make a memorable dessert for any occasion.

 The cake always turns out perfectly in a 9x9" metal pan. After frosting I cut it into nine equal slices.

The finished cake is almost too pretty to slice. But the 3x3" squares seem the perfect size for a single serving.

 What's next? Lemon for sure. But what about butterscotch or banana cream?

Sunflower Slashers Uncovered

  We were proud of our nice stand of sunflowers at the north edge of the garden. They were all planted by our birds who dropped seeds from the feeder at the edge of the garden.

 Every day I'd take Parker out and as I'd pass the garden I'd find more sunflowers lying down, even in the yard. What was causing this wholesale destruction?

 So last evening I set one of my Wyze security cameras up on a strategically-placed ladder. I set the IR lighting to come out after dark and I set motion detection to let me know if it saw anything.

 

It did.

 Between 1 am and 2 am things got pretty active beside the sunflowers. It was raccoons, one after another.

 Technology can be very useful.