Here's a fun little lemony cake that uses a small amount of leftover lemon curd. Prepare miniature yellow cupcakes. Scoop out a small portion from the center of the cupcake, and fill the center with lemon curd. Top with freshly sweetened whipped cream, and sprinkle the top with the cake crumbs. Yum! Lost your microwave lemon curd recipe? We posted a tutorial on lemon curd making on our March 9, 2009 post. 
This time I dried the final harvest of our fragrant scented geraniums. Take about 15 t0 18 stems and put them in a brown paper lunch bag. It is always a good idea to label/date your bag. Fold down the top of the bag and place in the refrigerator. It takes about two weeks (hard woody stem plants like Rosemary take longer) but essentially the herbs are dehydrated.
Once they are completely dry you can take them out of the bag and bottle the herbs, and enjoy using your summer herbs all winter long.
This is only one of our Mother's recipe notebooks, stashed away in a closet, only to be discovered again.
Notice the date, and her comment on this orange cake recipe...Delicious! 1974... orange cake happens to be the Old Boys favorite, so several orange cake recipes have been saved. And to this day, notes and comments appear on recipes that have been made. This last recipe (orange cake, again) has a newspaper clipping attached to it that announces a family dinner that was held at our Father's brother's home.
It is noted that they served rabbit and pheasant! It also lists the family members present, and reading the guest list, Marj, Nancy, and Susanna were not present, dating this clipping to sometime between 1948 and 1950, when dinner parties were indeed newsworthy.
Traditionally made with potatoes and yeast, they can be served plain or coated with sugar or powdered sugar. Many churches will make these as an annual fundraiser. Our grocery store also makes them all day long trying to keep up with the demand. They are so popular you could smell the Fasnachts before you even entered the store. There are many spellings of Fasnacht, Faschnacht, Fausnaughts, but it doesn't matter how you spell it, it will still "eat good" giving this Tuesday its other nickname of Fat Tuesday! 
On The Menu Today~
Winter came down to our home one night, quietly pirouetting in on silvery toed slippers of snow, and we, we were children once again. ~Bill Morgan, Jr.
Another suggestion for Valentine's Day is our Love 'Tea', actually a tisane since it's all herbal ingredients. It contains herbs that have aphrodisiac properties such as damiana, muria puama, white oak bark and others. There's also rosemary for remembrance and roses for love. It is suggested you sip this herb tea slowly while listening to your favorite love song! Although it does have a medicinal taste to it, the end result is what you desire, right?
You'll find wild cherry, rose hips, orange peel, hibiscus, spearmint, and more in this lovely herbal tisane. Perfect hot, lovely iced, it also makes a delightful party punch. Simply brew the tea, chill, and add ginger ale for a non-alcoholic spritzer. Your Valentine will be pleased.
No billboards along the highway but instead people have left their mark with coral found on nearby beaches. The white coral positioned on the dark lava made for some interesting reading. 
We would learn that Sara was an '09 grad. Or Trish Heart Dave or even that Bob and Joyce celebrated 25 years. Words of peace, love, aloha to the left and right. This is the Autograph Tree (Clusia rosea).
A West Indian tree that can withstand high winds and salt spray. You can etch your autograph on the large leaf of the tree and it will continue to grow.
Hidden on the rainy slope of Mauna Kea on the Big Island is a family owned and operated tea garden, Mauna Kea Tea. Beautiful lush rows upon rows of Camellia sinensis are being organically grown and lovingly tended by Takahiro and Kimberly Ino. They are determined to utilize environmentally responsible growing methods that include building a healthy soil life and micro cosmos on the farm which promote healthy plants and reduces the occurrence of pest problems with the ultimate goal of producing tea that not only tastes good but also heals the earth and their spirit. 
Following our tour of the Tea Garden, we enjoyed a Tea Tasting provided by Takahiro, a certified Japanese Tea Instructor. His wife, Kimberly, is certified by STI, the Specialty Tea Institute of America (Level 1 and 2).
, and many more gingers then I was aware of.
The 40 acres were developed by a husband and wife duo. They began the work in 1977, carving paths by hand through the valley, careful not to disturb the natural beauty. The garden was finally opened 17 years later as a non profit.
While at the black sand sea turtle beach, we encountered a local, who for a nominal tip would crack open a fresh coconut so we could drink the water 
(we learned that old coconuts have the milk) and then sample some of the coconut meat. He was very quick and skillful as he opened the coconut shell with his steel knife, 
quickly carving out the coconut meat. A multi-talented vendor, he was also weaving palm frond baskets and hats as well.
This photo of Cedar and Larry the coconut guy just totally cracks me up. Hang Loose. 
from the Kai Malino Wellness Center. Kai was very informative in explaining that the Hawaiians consider their traditional medicinal plants (La'au Lapa'au) sacred because of their usage by the ancestors and gods as were told in their ancient chants (mele). 
