Right Brain Feed

 At the lake recently, a tattered swallowtail washed up on shore, and one of the kids at the beach pulled it from the water, and put it down on the beach to dry out. She made a nest for it, and put in a daisy. A few minutes later, the butterfly flapped its wings, and took off, it was awe inspiring.  Sometimes it's the small things that really matter.  Small to me, but pretty friggin huge for that butterfly.

 We have a really special cemetery close by that I walk past frequently and visit. Quaint headstones, surrounded by a beautiful dry stack stone wall. And plenty of wonderful people I've known to visit. It's a calming, quiet place. But there is also a darker more sinister side to my visits. Outside the walls is a large mound of dirt, grass clippings,  and discarded plants.  I tend to peruse the discards to see if there is anything I can salvage and replant. Two years ago we scored big when someone decided to thin out the iris at a loved ones grave marker. This year I have my eye on a really healthy huge light pink columbine. It's just bloomed, if we leave it to go to seed, we plan to steal both seeds and the plant. Hope there aren't other plant robbers also planning to heist it. Update June 20: I guess I'm not the only columbine pilferer in town, someone else nicked the columbine out from under us! Went back and it was gone. Not even a lonely seed pod left behind.  

 A friend sells duck eggs, and I managed to score two nice big ones. I’d heard that duck eggs are good for baking, so I tried them in an enriched brioche-like bun, and they are awesome! I like nice soft rolls, so I found a recipe that uses a Japanese technique called tang zhong, where you cook a bit of flour and milk/water until it gets hot enough (I think the magic happens around 125F) for the flour to absorb all the liquid. You then let it cool, and include it in the mix. I also have found that diastolic malt powder helps bread brown, so I added a dabble of that. They turned out great, but huuuuuge! I can’t imagine eating a burger that big. Here’s the recipe I started with  https://hotfromthekettle.com/blog/nice-buns-tangzhong-brioche-hybrid