Bonsai Show at Krohn Conservatory

 Our timing is often spot-on. My weekend at Tom's seems to often coincide with something going on that we both truly want to see. Yesterday we attended the annual bonsai show at the Krohn Conservatory.

 Sponsored by the Bonsai Society of Greater Cincinnati, there's plenty more to see here than a "tree in a pot".

Krohn Conservatory -  Eden Park - Built 1933

Built in the Art Deco style, the Conservatory is described as "aluminum and glass" 

It costs $4 admission but you've hit it lucky ...

Jump aboard my camera and join Tom and I for a complimentary tour

First, the Bonsai Show

... "a living sculpture never quite finished." [BSGC] 

"Bonsai is a dynamic art, constantly changing." [BSGC] 

"There is nothing mysterious about bonsai. It only requires

a sense of design, basic horticultural knowledge about your tree,

and a healthy dose of patience." {BSCG]

And now to the rest of the Conservatory ...

Near the entrance is a vendor selling rocks and minerals ... popular with the kids

Tom and I turn left and walk down the first corridor at the Krohn 

A papaya holds three fruit high above our heads

Staghorm - or Elkhorn - Fern

Return to the main entrance, and then directly back ... 

In nature we first learned the meaning of corrugation 

Bamboo?

Perhaps a banana tree? 

Rainforest Waterfall

A restful 15 seconds at the waterfall ...

Just looking up produces a marvelous view 

Now, to the right of the main entrance

Yeah, that's what it looks like to me, too 

The carnivorous Pitcher Plant 

A Bromeliad 

And now to the orchid room

Beauty is often in point of view 

Even the cacti are beautiful here

Back outside, as we left, a Monarch gathers nectar

 The Krohn is a beautiful stop on a summer afternoon. I imagine it would be even more marvelous on a snowy winter's day. In any case, it is worth every minute we spent there.

Jungle Jim's - 40 Years

 They're having their 40th anniversary celebration and I've never been there before. That doesn't mean I haven't heard about the place. That once-produce stand has grown into a spectacular grocery and a little bit of everything else.

 Well, not a "little bit" ... a lot.

 Jungle Jim's is known for their in-depth offerings. Not a few kinds of mustards but a world's selection. Whatever it is, they offer it in a dazzling array of choices.

  Located in Fairfield (Cincinnati) on Dixie Highway, Tom suggested we check it out because of their special celebration. It's a long drive from Northside. Dixie must have a traffic light every hundred feet and we stopped at nearly every one.

 I was surprised at how little marked the place was. I didn't see any major Jungle Jim's sign, just a a section of monorail near the roadway. I suppose if you don't already know where the place is, you can find it by merely following the other cars.

The entrance

 In last Sunday's Dayton Daily News article, Tim Bachman, the Director for Development in Fairfield called Jungle Jim's "the single most known destination on Dixie Highway."

You want cheese? Chose among the mile 

Or beer ... by the bottle 

Tom checks out the jelly and jam aisle ... and buys two, quince jelly among them

It's not something he could find anywhere else 

Tilapia? I've certainly heard of them before but I've never seen one

And certainly not a huge aquarium full of live ones 

There are plenty of registers to check-out and still we had a wait

 I asked Tom if the crowds of whole families was usual or was this the result of the anniversary celebration? "It's always like this," he said.
 I am still overwhelmed.

Zucchini Nut Bread

 Two zucchini posts in a row? It'll take a hundred to make use of all the zucchini.

 Mom and I join our two cousins - Shirley Cluxton and Lois Masters - once a month for lunch. It's a good time to catch up on family happenings. And for years, every now and then, Lois would whisper to me while we were eating, "I have something for you in the car."

 As often as not, it'd be her homemade zucchini bread. I love the stuff. It's sweet and moist. But I've never made it and I've never asked for the recipe. Until this week. I told her we were inundated with zucchini as I took her another one (she's my number one person who will always accept a few). How about sharing that wonderful recipe?

 Wednesday, when we met for lunch, she gave me the recipe. Here it is:

[Click on either page to enlarge it]

 So, recipe in hand, I decided today was the day to give it a try.

2 cups of grated zucchini 

The liquids are mixed

The dry ingredients are ready to be stirred 

And now the two - liquid and dry - are combined

Walnuts and raisins are added, too 

The mixture is divided between two greased loaf pans

An hour later, they're ready to come out of the oven 

Cooling on the counter ... 

And enjoying the first slice

Before I go, here is the cause of all of this summer's zucchini bread, zucchini fritters, zucchini casserole and plain 'ol fried zucchini ...

See that bloom? The next zucchini's on the way!

Zucchini Fritters

 The gardening question that comes every August I've planted zucchini in the garden is this: "What to do with all of them?"

 Mom has told me "No more!" every time I show up at the back door with another load.

 In fact, our one zucchini plant has produced nearly four dozen squash.

 I'm going to make zucchini bread in a day or two. But for lunch today we settled on zucchini fritters. Allrecipes has a good recipe called Easy Zucchini Fritters. This is the recipe I used.

 Without a kitchen scale, it's difficult to know what 1-1/2 pounds of grated zucchini is. I used a digital postal scale and came up a little short but decided to make them anyway. I squeezed the excess water out with my hands, thinking cheesecloth was adding a little bit too much work.

The resulting fritters are a little too salty for Mom's taste (though not mine) and I'd reduce the teaspoon of salt accordingly. Of course I had less grated zucchini which might have made up for the difference.

 The initial mixture is creamy and easy to work. We added a little more flour than was called for, too.

 I only have a small pan so I was able to fry just three at a time.I used margarine rather than olive oil (which also contributed to the saltiness). My ingredients produced nine fritter.

 They're quite  delicious and a good way to use up excess zucchini. Actually they might be called "zucchini pancakes". I left on the skin before grating so the flecks of green add some interest to the fritter. I might add that it's the minced gloves of garlic that really make this dish. It smells wonderful as it fries.

127 Yard Sale

 Sometimes our schedules just work to our advantage. It was my turn to visit Tom and, on August 8, it was also the date for the 127 Yard Sale. It runs from Addison, Michigan to Gadsden, Alabama, 690 miles this year. The annual sale runs August 6-9.

 Tom lives on Hamilton Avenue (Route 127) in Northside (Cincinnati).

 So, on the agenda was a walk-through Tom's neighborhood where we could nose through the garage sale items.

Many of the booths were set up on Hoffner Street, closed to traffic for their Northside Community Garage Sale and Art Market. The community hosts "Second Saturday" events in the summer.
 I figured I'd have parking problems but I pulled in near my usual spot on Knowlton Street.

 In front of Tom's apartment, a city bus passed by.

 We turned the corner onto Hoffner and found a block of garage sale items. It wasn't crowded, though, and Tom said the turn-out was less than previous years. We later drove around the neighborhood and came to the same conclusion.

 Amy Devers - furniture designer, carpenter, television personality, and design blogger" - was there with her Krylon Crew. Devers is host of A&E's Fix This Yard, Victory Garden's edibleFEAST on PBS and a designer/carpentry expert on  OWN's Home Made Simple.

 Tom and I happened to walk by a sale booth when the group was filming a segment and we were both asked to sign releases. Here's Tom (left side of frame) signing the release ...

 I signed form #24 and the gal (the one just right of Tom in this shot) who asked us to sign took a picture of us holding our forms so the number could be associated with out faces. Interesting day!

 This is Dever's Krylon van. Krylon sponsors "The World's Longest Garage Sale". Read about this by clicking here.

 One shop on Knowlton Street had their wares stacked throughout the building. I just missed two telescopes which a guy was paying for when I turned the corner. The reflector would have been perfect for me.

 A warm, humid day ... and a little tiring from all the walking, but fun just the same. It was certainly something different.