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Lula Harp

~ one girl's journey into cooking, crafting and self discovery

Lula Harp

Tag Archives: spring

Home amongst the daffy-dils

07 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in Blogging University

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

daffoldils, home, photo101, Shelby Farms Park, spring

Two years ago if someone had asked me what home looked like, I would have a very different answer. Since I moved to Memphis, I have met some wonderful people, but it doesn’t really feel like home.

For the last year, each day has started and ended with a walk in the park with my sweet Coe. No matter how bad the day is, as soon as I step into the park, it is magically washed away. Other than the copious number of photos of cocktails I’ve taken in the past year, Shelby Farms Park is where I’ve taken most of my pictures since coming to Memphis.

I took this picture this weekend; two of my most favorite things in the world, that make me feel at home, no matter where I am.

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Toast Tuesday: Huangjiu

09 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by Lula Harp in cocktails, Toast Tuesday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

A Year of Drinking Adventurously, huangjiu, margarita, sake, spring

Toast Tuesday has snuck up on me again and this time I really am reporting a failure. No one in Memphis has heard of Huangjiu (sounds like wong-jo) and I did not have an unknown secret stash tucked in a closet. I looked in every liquor store I passed. I asked the one Chinese person I’ve met here. And I went through every case of booze I have tucked away. Nothing.

I’m going to bookmark this spirit and revisit it. I’m going to look for it every time I go to a new city of any boozey repute until I find it. You will know as soon as I do.

In the meantime, a very brief description of huangjiu. In A Year of Drinking Adventurously, Jeff Cioletti tells us that huangjiu translates to “yellow wine” or sometimes “yellow liquor”, but that neither of these descriptors are accurate. Not quite a wine and definitely not a liquor, we have huangjiu

A rice based beverage that does not go through a distillation process. It can include a variety of grains including millet and wheat. Very often, the resulting drink isn’t yellow. Most often used for cooking, our author says that’s fine for some of the cheaper ones, but the finer ones are worth savoring. Traditionally served warm, about 120 degrees, you can now find huangjiu mixed into cocktails.

I’m not going into much more. Not having tried this, I’m winging it. What I will tell you is what I drank instead. In honor of a rice based adult beverage, I skipped ahead a little. More like a big toe in the pond.

I made a sake margarita. We had a brief couple days of spring like weather before it plunged into the Arctic again. When there is sunshine, there’s margaritas!
Hitting my local liquor store I went to see what I had for a selection of sake. I know I like drier, rather than sweet ones and luckily most give you a description or scale on the back.

  

I picked a pretty bottle with a flower that said medium dry and went to google for some guidance and this is what we came up with.

1 1/2 oz sake
1/2 oz triple sec
1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
1/3 oz simple syrup

Shake with ice and serve up or on the rocks. Your pick.

The next sunny day give this a whirl. Your sneering sake naysayer friends will be bowled over when you tell them what they’ve just enjoyed.

Here’s to Tuesday!

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Spring has sprung…

25 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by Lula Harp in just a thought

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Carolina Wren, Shelby Farms, spring, walking

I know it has been ages since I have posted and it hasn’t been for lack of wanting, thinking, or trying.  I’ve started no less than a dozen posts and just haven’t found the right words, the right feeling, or the right mood.

This morning, that changed.  Clearly, since I’m here.  I’ve mentioned before how hard this move has been, but today I woke feeling like the old Lula; motivated and creative.  I’ve got a pot of soup simmering on the stove and other ingredients sitting at the ready for the next project.

I have moved, yet again, since we were last together.  Pipes bursting in a freeze forced that on me, but it really was for the best.  I now live on the edge of a ginormous park where Coe and I walk several times daily.  We have a new boarder, unlike the last unwanted roomies, this one is a delightful change.  She also has at least one bun in the oven and living in a little bird house on my patio.

Carolina Wren

 

Ginger kitty isn’t happy she has been banished from our patio for awhile, but she’ll get over it.

 

I’ll soon be posting a collage of photos from the last few months (MONTHS?!!).  I’ve been going through and sorting them.  A few great gems-  food, new friends, holidays, snow, family, and a wedding…

Enjoy your beautiful weekend, wherever it may find you.  Coe and I are off for our first walk of the day.

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worms on a plane

13 Thursday Mar 2014

Posted by Lula Harp in spring

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

iphone photos, spring, walk, worms

doesn’t quite have the makings of a hit movie, but depending on your bug issues, might be just as gross.

I don’t know if this a phenomenon everywhere, but here, one of the signs of spring are worms everywhere.

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My morning walk is in the dark, so it’s kind of like doing a tap dance to not step on the squishy fellas.

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This is on the playground at the school near my house. Coe is oblivious and just walks right over them. click the picture for a really good view, be sure to look for the worm tracks in the sand.

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The most amazing thing is how LONG some of them are.

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This is the same fella as above, but look closely, he has a friend.

Here’s to spring!  Non-stop sunshine cannot get here soon enough for me.  Though, I did have to mow my lawn today.  I’m putting that in the exercise column.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Object

03 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by Lula Harp in photo challenge

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

iphone photos, object, repurpose, spring, wordpress weekly photo challenge, workplace

A few months ago, I had the fortune (misfortune?) of getting some training at work.  Got to sit in a classroom for a month while someone spouted a bunch of gibberish at me.

I have a work little brother; we rib each other, talk trash, share gossip, and snarked (is that really a word) under our breath during that class.  He is a pen clicker, to which I would respond by taking his pens away.  He responded one day by dismantling something, I don’t recall what now.  But this thing he dismantled had a spring inside.  He stretched out that spring and made it into something fun.  We played with this thing for the next couple of weeks and it ended up at my desk after the class.  It hangs on my cabinet with a magnet and sometimes it comes down to work away stress.

Here’s my contribution to this week’s challenge: object

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Another coworker stopped by my desk today when I was snapping a few pictures today and gave me the most quizzical look.  Gotta love life in a cube farm.

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Where has time gone?

26 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by Lula Harp in Portland, work

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

baking, cocktails, iphone photos, Rebuilding Together, spring, work

While I have been working non-stop the last few months, I have managed to find time to have some fun, bake a few yummies, drink a few (several) cocktails, and eat some fabulous grub.  I’ve been making notes and have the starts for several blog posts.

I have taken a few days off work to… well, work.  Rebuilding Together is upon us once again and it is a project I love being involved with.  So while it is “work”, it’s rewarding and fun.  Having a few days off from the work-that-pays has given me the mental and creative recharge I needed after the hellish spring work had brought forth.

As I mentioned, I have been making notes and always taking pictures.  Here’s a tiny preview of some upcoming posts.  Until next time, and I PROMISE, my  next post will be coming soon.

heavenly scones



cinnamon swirl coffee cake

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(i)photo friday

18 Friday May 2012

Posted by Lula Harp in garden, photography

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

blooming, flowers, garden, iphone, photography, spring

Garden in bloom: the sequel

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  • New Deal Distillery
  • Pacific Pie Company
  • Shelby Farms Park
  • Take It Outside Fitness
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  • The Orpheum Theatre
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