Queen of the Night tea

Yep, I made some.

The fragrance is unique. It's not as strong as a gardenia, but it is just as memorable. So, last night, when folks were hanging out because of the flowers (see Flower Power), I joked in saying that I wanted to try making tea out of it. A Chinese friend chimed in that they do make tea with it in China, like Jasmine tea. "What, just put the petals in hot water?" "Yes."

So, after midnight, when everyone was gone and the flowers would be wilted by morning, I cut one off and put all of its petals (and a bit of sugar) in a cup of hot water. It was good!



Oops--I put it in a Starbucks cup.

Flower Power

Last Summer, I observed that the football-shaped buds of the Queen of the Night appeared to open on the day that they reached a certain length. I got all scientific about it, measuring the length of several buds day after day and, blah blah, I now have a little chart that I can hold up next to a flower bud that tells me how many days before that bud will explode into one of these amazing blooms.

The heat wave early in the month triggered the formation of this Summer's first wave of flower buds. So, I got out the chart and determined that they'd bloom around June 27...

Powerful. That's one year, exactly, from the day Dad died. What wonderful timing for Mom and me to have this explosion of life on such an important date.

We have had such enjoyable times around these Summer flowers. These flowers had, since they first bloomed in 2003, been something to share with others. Last Summer was no exception. By word of mouth (okay, and a huge sign I stuck on the lawn, days in advance), people came from blocks away, even from nearby cities; people brought over guests who were visiting them, just to find out what this thing was. The flower became a point of connection, a place for community of friends and strangers who would become friends. It made for long evenings for Mom and me, but we loved it; we loved being with others who wanted to share some new adventure and drink in this wonderful flower.

And that's what we set in motion again this year. The sign was far smaller: "Night-blooming flowers blooming soon! See phoons.com/news". And it did the trick. It was good to see faces from last year and to see new faces, people who'd seen the sign and were just curious (good for them! and they were rewarded!).

It was tough to narrow down an evening's worth of photos. "Do I show the photo with the most people? Show how people are clustered in groups, talking about whatever they enjoy talking about at the moment? Show the variety of people studying and smelling the flower?" I settled on this one that included Mom zipping about, joyfully offering cookies and tea.

The power of a flower. A reason for community, relationships, celebration, life.

My heritage

Mom and I went to Outback tonight, this night which is a year from when Dad died. We had a nice time at dinner. And then we went back to her place and enjoyed an evening with friends and newfound friend-neighbors who saw my signs and web page to come see the exotic Queen of the Night flowers on her front porch that open after 7:30 pm and last for one night. My interest in sharing the beauty with others--even strangers--comes from Mom.



The last time I was at Outback was on Father's Day of 2004, I snuck this photo, capturing one of the most beautiful things in my life: my parents' love for and commitment to the Lord, here reflected in yet another not-from-script thanking God for the food before us, for loved ones, for caring for us. "Caring for us"--he regularly expressed that, even knowing his life was being shortened by cancer. I remember choking up when taking the photo, drinking in the beauty of the moment and also knowing what a precious thing I was capturing for a time such as right now.



In searching through Dad's collection of photos on his computer, I came across an old Phoon photo. I also came across this photo I took of them while we were next to each other at a stop light in Oct 2003.



They didn't always look like that or behave like that...but they knew I'd probably laugh if they hammed it up just for me. They were right. And with as many painful things as there are that could be remembered, many of our making, it's good to remember the good stuff and to forgive. That's something they taught us, too.

I love you, Mom and Dad.

Make my face

If you have gone through Disneyland's Haunted Mansion ride, you may remember the talking head statues. As you walked past them, it appeared as if they turned to follow you. If you looked closer, you observed that the statues didn't stick out toward you like normal statues but were instead concave, carved inward. [I made one of these. See the very end of this post for a short movie.]

A couple weeks ago, my brother showed me a color drawing of a dragon head on a flat piece of paper and showed me a movie of the dragon head.

I followed instructions on where to cut, how to fold, where to tape, and soon I had my dragon head. It followed the same principle as the heads at the Haunted Mansion: the dragon face was on the "inside" of the 3D shape. And if you shine a light just right and close one eye and walk by it, it looks like the dragon is turning its head to follow you. Creepy.

I thought why not try to make a creepy 3D thing with my face?

Here is the folded object:


And here is a movie (click the triangle) that shows the resulting optical illusion (hmm... I look like a balloon with a really bad nose burn):

(Thanks, David, for converting this from my camera's movie format!)

You can make it, too, as if that's exciting. Print out the following six images. Instructions are on one of them.




If you succeed, leave me a comment! I'm curious if anyone else (1) tries it and (2) succeeds. I uploaded my movie to video.google.com.

So, how did I make it, you craftspeople wonder...

I took a big piece of paper and smashed/folded it against my face and applied tape all over to hold the folds in place and retain the basic shape of my face in all of the wrinkles in the paper. Then I cut the mask down the middle.

I made cuts at various places to enable the half to flatten out. I traced the flattened shape and created a mirror image of that.



I folded and taped those pieces together and tried them out on my face. The nose part didn't work at all. I had to make a little nose by hand and tape it in place. But the rest looked pretty good.

But...the original tracing had far too many cuts. I wanted to simplify the pattern to make it easier for you to cut out and put together. So, I cut this current mask down the middle, flattened it with new simpler cuts and made one last tracing.

I then took photos of myself from various angles so that I could transfer key features from those images to the cutout patterns.

Oops. The nose didn't work out. Too complicated.

I used the same technique several years ago to make a pony out of chicken wire because I wanted to have a cool starting point for a topiary. I'd fold paper to form a pony-like shape, apply tape liberally, then cut it and flatten it out and trace a new pattern and repeat until I had a simple pattern that, when joined together, looked pretty much like a pony. I laid those flat patterns on chicken wire, cut it up and wired it into the shape of a grazing pony. And that's how I came to have a chicken wire pony in my garage. Hmm.

John Darrow's Thai Lemon Ginger Fudge Chicken Soup

I threw together these ingredients last night without thinking about measuring. I also used 2 serranos and, man, that was insanely hot, but it was wonderfully delicious. Tonight, I wanted to try it again and write down amounts and tweak the flavors. I tried 1 serrano, and it was still too hot, but still very yummy. So here's what I propose for "just right." Enjoy!

Want to print this or tell someone about this post? First click the title of just this post and then you'll have just what you need.

Serves 4. Side dish: fresh fruit topped with (fruit) yogurt. Peach ice
cream afterward is pretty nice, too.

== Prepare the ingredients

4 c water
1 T garlic salt
juice of 1/2 lime (or whole lime if you like it more sour)
1 T fresh minced ginger
1/2 small serrano pepper, minced (wash your fingers thoroughly after messing with serrano..or, if you prefer, rub your eyes so you more readily appreciate my advice next time)
3 boneless chicken thighs, cut in 1/2" strips (not too long to fit in your mouth)
2 T lemon pepper seasoning salt (McCormick)
1 T dried basil
2 to 3 cups brown mushrooms, sliced thick (in 3)
1-1/2 T butter
oil
8 pieces of fudge
1/2 can of coconut milk (after first shaking the can for a while to mix)
enough uncooked green beans or sugar snap peas for a typical side dish for two people
1 package Top Ramen shrimp flavor, broken up while still in its package
2 medium tomatoes, cut in eighths
1 large handful of cilantro, coarsely chopped

== Start the soup base

In a 3 qt saucepan, add the water, garlic salt, lime juice, ginger and serrano. Bring to a boil.

== Start the chicken

Heat a skillet to quite hot, pour a 2" circle of oil and immediately pour in the whole pile of chicken pieces (to minimize hot splatters). (Don't clean the bowl--you will be using it for the chicken again shortly.) Spread the pieces out evenly and let them sear on one side (get some good color there!). Then flip the pieces over to lightly cook them. Goal: leave the middles uncooked. They will cook more later. Transfer the chicken back to the bowl.

== Cook the mushrooms

Put all of the mushrooms in the hot skillet. Let them soften and darken. Then mix in the butter and let it darken again. Then mix in all the chicken and drippings and take the skillet off of the heat.

== Continue the soup base

Add the coconut milk, the ramen and the contents of the spice packet that came with the ramen. If you are using green beans, stir them in now (don't add any sugar snap peas at this time). Return to boil. When the green beans are nearly done, you're ready for the next step.

== Set places and call everyone to the table

Mix the chicken and mushrooms into the soup base. If you are using sugar snap peas, stir them in now. Stir in the tomatoes. Mix in the cilantro. Serve.

Enjoy the fudge.

Copyright © 2006 John Darrow

I wish I could've seen Joanne's reaction

My sister Joanne isn't fond of bugs.

If I make a high whine sound, imitating a mosquito, then slowly move my pointing finger toward her cheek, I can expect to get a strong backhand from her.

So I wondered how she would've reacted had she experienced what I experienced this morning. I was looking at something on the front porch when out of nowhere a crane fly (mosquito hawk) landed on my face, with legs spanning my right eye. Hello!

David's humor

I came across a photo that David had taken in 1983 and sent to me as a postcard. That's my old Volkswagen Fastback in the foreground.



So, some dude was slowly cruising down the street and trying to figure out something about his car. David saw the photo opportunity.

And that, in turn, inspired him to spin a story, which he wrote on the back of the photo and mailed to me.

Freeway sign generator

Thanks to Carly who dropped in out of nowhere and alerted me to John's assignment for us all to generate freeway signs like the ones I just made, below. (Visit the generator web page, fill in the four textfields, click "Make my sign", rightclick the image + Save As; add the pic to your blog with instructions like these.)

Here's another option for those who want to make a freeway sign but do not want to go through the hassle of saving, etc., just to send something to friends: (1) go make the sign, (2) copy the resulting URL/address to your email or blog. That's it! The drawback is that the URL says exactly what the words are, so the reader will have a bit of a clue before visiting the URL and seeing the image.

Happy 78th, Mom!

Shall we go get a picture of you near the pony, like when you were 74?

Last year, many of you participated in Mom's birthday cosmos fun. Click this for the memories.

Many of you have asked how the cosmos are doing this year. Well, over summer and fall, Mom and I gathered (piles of) dried/drying cosmos and then later harvested the seeds into a bucket and dispersed many of those in the same plot. The rest we dispersed elsewhere in the yards (no sharing with any neighbors--no way!).

Here's a shot of the plot today. All of the cosmos started from seed, so by midsummer they should look even better than last year, me thinks.

(Click for a larger view.)



Well, in keeping with tradition, I played Happy Birthday on the piano for Mom, several hours after she'd already awaken. She enjoyed it. Okay, the reality is that her tradition is quite the opposite: seems like she'd pick some time waaaaay before we'd normally awake (when I think God is also still asleep) and rouse us with that loud tune.

Mid morn, we went to a memorial service for one of Mom's past walking partners. (Another was Dad.) It was good to reconnect with her sons (btw, there's a historical Phoons connection there), and certainly emotional to also remember our own losses as well as their family's.

In the afternoon, we headed to the hills for a hike. I showed Mom the hidden-from-the-path grotto at which I had phooned a couple of weeks ago. I noted how I had had to run from the camera, along the fallen tree and up a distant branch before the timer went off. Now on that branch again, something caught my eye: a geocaching cache, of all things (where you use a GPS device to find stuff hidden by others, all around the world).

Evening was quickly upon us. A late-arriving guest delayed our plans for dinner. Finally on the road, we thought it too late to cram a big meal into our bodies ("we'll have trouble getting to sleep"). I joked about just going and getting dessert at BJ's Pizza. Mom said "Yes!" "So, dessert instead of dinner?" "Sure, it's my birthday!"

We each got one of these. Brownie baked in the tin, topped with ice cream and covered with whip cream. Ohhh, yeah.

Okay, now we're nauseated. We could each only get through half; we brought the rest home.

Queen of the Night / Night blooming Cereus to bloom soon

Do you live within decent driving range of Sunnyvale? You've got to come check out this flower on our front porch. Read more about the flower here.

If you have seen and smelled this amazing flower that blooms in the late evening, you know what an incredible treat it is. And there are at least 17 buds that will be blooming some time in July, so you have plenty of opportunity to enjoy them. (These flowers can bloom anywhere between July and October. Each one lasts only one evening and has withered by morning.)

Would you like to be notified by email when a flower is going to bloom? I have just started a free Queen of the Night newsletter. Just sign up and I'll let you know as the day approaches and when the day is here! Perhaps you know someone who you think should check out the flowers? Either send them the link to the newsletter...or sign them up.

The flowers begin opening around 7:30 pm. Some people come twice in an evening: once to see what the blooms look like when they are beginning to open from the compressed "football" shape and again when the petals have opened fully, revealing inner delicate pistels and stamen, and the fragrance is strongest. This occurs around 10 pm.

The big gangly plant is on the front porch, and we will keep the lights on; just drop by without notice; you will very likely find others like yourselves who have dropped by to smell the flowers and take photos. Bring the kids!

Cookbooks for Tech Writers

As a tech writer (one who writes documentation/instructions for programmers), I am supposed to be alert to variations in the process and present those to the reader. "If such and such is true, then do the following."

So, when I was cooking breakfast and both eggs I cracked had two yolks, my tech writer brain filled the time by considering how cookbooks should be repaired. Should there be "if/then" steps for situations like this? I know a great hollandaise sauce recipe that calls for three yolks and no whites. Is it three visual yolks, or is it whatever yolks happen to fall out of three egg shells?