Blue skies

What a bodacious storm we had last night! Hays is typically on the edge of storms, but last night we were right in the middle of it. When the storm siren sounded I and my one guest did the sensible thing and waited it out in the middle of the basement with the emergency kit nearby. Several tornadoes touched ground within a few miles of town, but I didn't hear of any serious damage done, which was a miracle.

Once in a great while we get a little stormy excitement like that. But it's like I tell my B&B guests--this house has been standing unscathed for 101 years now, and that's a pretty good record.

Nevertheless, I was moved to go out and buy a weather radio today. I opted for a "crank" model, so I can manually recharge the batteries. I can also use it to recharge my cell phone and computer, although there's no telling how much cranking those would entail. It has a built-in flashlight and AM/FM radio. I was pretty pleased to get all that for 40 bucks!

I also replaced the bottled water stash with fresh bottles. All ready for the next cautionary basement visit, or winter power outage (also rare here).

Now, if you only know Kansas by reputation and not experience, you might think Kansans are always rushing down to their primitive cellars to escape enormous twisters, like the one in The Wizard of Oz. I am a lifelong fan of that movie. I'm pretty sure I know all the dialog by heart. I love TWOO. But I am also reasonably sure that those dull, gray scenes of a perfectly flat landscape (it was a soundstage, folks, not the real thing) are more responsible than anything for the image most people still have of Kansas. That is, unless they've actually been here and have dared to stray more than a mile or two from the interstate. It's a beautiful state, and part of that beauty is in our dramatic skies.

Yes, a tornado ocassionally drops out of those dramatically gorgeous skies. But no more often than in a dozen other states, and that's a fact. So come see Kansas! I can recommend all kinds of day trips and short excursions with the Tea Rose Inn as the base camp. And if necessary, we can huddle together in the basement with a well-stocked emergency kit until the skies turn blue again. Really, really blue.

Tea for Two

A lovely young couple is enjoying the "Tea for Two" package this weekend in celebration of their first anniversary. They're new to Kansas, and I'm proud to say they chose Hays for their first weekend getaway. They've been antiquing and spent some time at the Sternberg Museum.

I don't often meet young people who are so enthusiastic about tea. We had the best conversation about all things camellia sinensis. For their afternoon tea I served my house blend, tea and roses, with finger sandwiches and assorted sweets. This evening they have a dessert tea in their room:  green Darjeeling in cut crystal mugs and cheesecake with chocolate sauce. A cheery vase of flowers and a scented candle add to the ambiance and are theirs to take home.

At breakfast I may serve apricot brandy tea, since they mentioned an apricot flavored tea they'd enjoyed somewhere. That should nicely complement the special French toast with berries I have planned for tomorrow.

During afternoon tea the young man commented on the Celtic music I had playing. That led to me mentioning Tinderbox, my musical guests from the U.K. (see May 7 post). We ended up listening to the Tinderbox CD, and they really liked that too, no surprise.

Now I'm enjoying a glass of ICED tea under the ceiling fan at the end of this unseasonably hot day. All in all a very satisfying day.

Toto, we're in Kansas...

That's why two days ago the cloudy, rainy weather made it necessary to have the furnace on during the day, and today I had to switch on the air conditioner at 10 a.m.! That's Kansas in springtime.

Chocolate syrup

     Note:  This post is of interest to foodies only.

Last Sunday I served multigrain waffles for breakfast with an assortment of toppings for guests to pass around the table. There were strawberries, caramel bananas (an experiment for me), whipped cream (with a secret ingredient), toasted pecan pieces, sweet cream butter and pure maple syrup. Since I had an 8-year-old here, I decided to add something different to the array of toppings--chocolate syrup. The ready-made chocolate syrup I've had is not so great, probably because it's mostly corn syrup. So I went to my favorite recipe web site, http://www.epicurious.com/, to find a recipe. Here is the one I used, with my comments following. (This recipe appeared in the Feb. 2003 issue of Gourmet.  Ah, Gourmet, RIP.)

Chocolate Syrup
yield: Makes about 1 1/2 cups
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring water and sugar to a boil, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Whisk in cocoa and salt and simmer, whisking, until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla, then cool (syrup will continue to thicken as it cools).

This is a not-too-sweet syrup, which I like. I didn't have any Dutch process cocoa on hand, so I used regular, but next time I will use the Dutch process--my batch had a slightly bitter taste. Despite that criticism, the 8-year-old loved it, so it is kid-approved.

One nice thing about this product is that it has virtually no fat--just the tiny bit that occurs in the cocoa. With skim or low-fat milk, it's not a bad choice for a chocolate fix (alas, it still has calories). I made hot chocolate with the syrup, using a substantial quantity, and it was great! Intense cocoa flavor.

Yesterday I took a cheesecake to a lunch meeting I attended. I made a simple three-berry sauce for topping and also took the last of the chocolate syrup. It's quite a thick sauce, so I thinned it with a little hot water to facilitate pouring. Both were hits.

Now back to those caramel bananas. For some reason I decided on that morning that plain old sliced bananas just wouldn't be special enough, so I tried a little experiment.  I sliced firm-ripe bananas diagonally, dipped them in cream, then coated each side with brown sugar. Next they went into a non-stick pan with a tablespoon of melted butter at medium heat. I didn't want the bananas to get mushy, so I turned them just as soon as the sugar on the "down" side began to caramelize. I cooked three small batches of bananas. Because some of the cream and sugar cooked off into the butter (forming caramel), I had to wipe out the pan with a paper towel between batches and melt more butter. The lesson learned is that you should try to cook the bananas in a single batch. The bananas were the hit of the morning with the grown-ups at the table.

Interesting side note. Sunday afternoon I was on Facebook and one of my FB friends (one of the ones I don't know--ha ha) mentioned having caramel bananas for breakfast that day. And I though I had created something new! I think when it comes to cooking there really is nothing new under the sun. But I still love making discoveries for myself, though I've been cooking for many decades.

If you try either of these recipes, please post a comment to let everyone know how you liked it.

Ready for commencement visitors, with help from the garden

Hays is a bustling place right now because of Fort Hays State University's commencement on Saturday. Those who are attending convocations and receptions on Friday have begun arriving in town this afternoon--I'm waiting for a couple to check in as I write this.

Everything here is ready to go. I've tried to give a nod to FHSU's school colors of black and gold, but the black is a challenge. Dark chocolate cupcakes are perched on the sideboard, with gold napkins beside. I did see some black icing in a tube at the grocery store, and I know I've seen it on bakery cakes, but I just couldn't bring myself to use it. Instead I chose substance over style--dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting--all homemade, natch. That'll have to be close enough to black.

There are dozens of yellow irises blooming on the south side of the house, so there's my gold for the dining table centerpiece. The closest I can come to black flora are the majestic dark maroon irises just starting to open in the front flower bed (the outer petals are almost black) and the dark maroon leaves of the ornamental plums in the back garden.

The spring flowers are so happy to be in the sunshine today after a week of rain and cool temperatures. I cut an armload of irises and peonies to place in the guest rooms and in the common rooms. They're all so beautiful and devinely fragrant.

Peonies are one of my absolute favorite flowers. Hays is the first place I've ever lived where they will grow, and they do flourish here (and all over Kansas). All of my plants were given to me by other gardners who were dividing their ever-expanding clumps, and I was very happy to take them. I learned that peonies require patience. Although the plants thrived, it was three years before any buds appeared in the spring, and most of those didn't open. I sought advice from local gardners wise in the way of the peony. After checking that all conditions were favorable, they patiently advised me to be patient. As predicted, my peonies gradually lived up to their promise, yielding more flowers each year. This spring I have a bumper crop. It's heaven.

By next week I should be able to start cutting roses! One of my Pat Austins has buds that are already showing a bit of color, so it won't be long now.

Plant Exchange party

Every year in early May my friend Mary hosts a plant exchange party in her back garden. We have brunch on the lawn, walk about Mary's lovely gardens, catch up with fellow gardeners we haven't seen in awhile (in some cases not since last year's exchange), and then the swapping begins.

Weather is unpredictable at this time of year; in past years we've gathered in drizzle, cloudy skies and cold temperatures, and in one memorable year gale force wind. But today was perfect. Sunny, cool, and not windy (that last one is notable on the high plains in springtime, especially).

Mary put out a lovely spread of goodies, and I got permission to bring my own contribution. This year it was a thermos of vanilla tea and a plate of cherry-chocolate cream scones, still warm from the oven. Those got snatched up in a hurry.

When it was time to divide the loot I, as usual, made out like a bandit. I had taken a bagful of applemint and another of Greek oregano, both of which I have in great abundance. What did I come home with? Lemon balm, which I've done without for far too many years. Lilies of the valley, which I have long wanted to have in my garden. Ten years or more after planting crabapple and peach trees I finally have enough shade to grow the dainty little lilies. Someone contributed tomato plants they grew from seed; I brought home a Roma in a peat pot. (I'm mainly going to stick with heirloom varieties, like I did last year.) I also chose several bulbs of a pink allium that should nicely complement the maroon variety in my front bed.

A very satisfying morning. Now to get out there and get it planted!

Musical visitors

Last night I had a lovely young couple here from the U.K., a husband and wife known collectively as Tinderbox. I got to hear the last half of their accoustic set yesterday evening at Coffee Rules (a coffee bar/wine and beer bar), near the campus. They performed a few covers, but mostly original music. Monique has a beautiful voice and a gift for writing lyrics. Though they played to a small audience, it was an appreciative one.

Then of course, I had the pleasure of getting better acquainted with them over breakfast this morning. They are winding up a two-week tour of Kansas that started in Wichita, then on to Colorado for a few days. Dan commented that Hays was the first city they'd been to where they could actually park their car and walk around to shops and restaurants. They especially enjoyed the Ellis County Historical Museum. That's our Chestnut Street District! It's why I live downtown--almost everything I need is a short walk away. The shops and restaurants have local flavor and high quality.

I think what most excited the couple--and their friends back home--is that they were in a real "Wild West" town. They even thought that downtown Hays retained some of its Wild West look and feel. Hmm...I'll have to think about that one. I thought we were pretty civilized! I haven't seen a single gunfight in the 13 years I've been here.

Monique and Dan left me their latest CD, called State of Play. I know I will enjoy it for a long time to come, and think of our brief visit when I hear it. Dan declared that the next song they write will be "The Life and Times of Baxter Stramel," or something like that. Wouldn't that be a hoot? They took quite a liking to my little buddy.

You never know who you'll meet at the Tea Rose Inn. I feel so priveleged to be in the position I'm in. It hardly feels like a job, hosting interesting people from all over the world and around the corner.