Making Bagels...it's a Sunday thing.

I usually bake on the weekend, and if the baking day falls on Sunday, I always feel like making bagels.  It's a rainy day (so what else is new, it is a rain forest, after all), so I might make soup, too.  I have to make some other baked goods, just to make it through the week.  A loaf of bread in $5.00 in Hilo (and that's the cheap stuff or "air bread"), so I make my own.  I usually try to make a treat.  Since it is cool today, I might make Pop Tarts.  The dough does best when it is cool.  I really like this recipe: Home Made Pop Tarts . I have used Nutella and different kinds of jam for the filling.  They don't last long.

I do have a lot of bananas in the freezer that I should use up, because there is a huge stalk out on the tree that is ready to come in.  A stalk of bananas doesn't look that big on the tree, but when you bring it in and lay it on your table - it is unbelievable.  I saw someone on craigslist selling a stalk for $55 - it was ice cream bananas which are kind of hard to find, and it was 50 lbs of bananas, but wow!

After church today, we went to Home Depot to buy some trim for the doorways.  Even though we technically finished the house in 2004, there are all sorts of little projects to finish up.  My husband was working on the mantle piece for the fireplace yesterday, and is now working on pine trim for around the inside doorways.  This is going to make my mom happy when she comes for Thanksgiving!  There are always so many things to do around here, that sometimes just the making things look finished and nice is the last thing you think of.

While we were at Home Depot, I bought some seeds. I usually try to do get non-hybrid seeds, but I just felt like it would be nice to have some peas, spinach, and jalapenos...at our elevation, we are sort of between zone 10 and 11 (I think they made 11 just for Hawaii), so I usually go with the 10 recommendations and it is close to time to plant all of those things.  I thought I would start them in pots since we are supposedly in for a wet winter.  Spinach always does better in pots here - if I direct start it, it never gets much over 4" tall.

I notice I have some volunteers growing where I throw my kitchen scraps.  It started out as a pile of lava rock where we located our pump house and the solar water heaters.  I started throwing out scraps there to build up soil gradually.  We've thought about herbs or lettuces there, but haven't done anything too much with that area.  I have had some interesting volunteers though: several avocado trees, papaya, pineapple, acorn squash, tomatoes, and now what I think may be an apple tree.  Some people a little higher than us can grow apples, not like you folks on the mainland, but a fruit here or there, but I doubt it will make it here. We always have to move the trees that start there - we've moved lots of avocado and the papaya - because it is too close to the house and the solar water heating panels.

On the animal front, I need to ask at the feed store if the trainer has room for my mare.  His sister, who runs the store bit, told me he would have room before Christmas, but he told me August in 2009....not reliable forecast.   For an area with a fair amount of ranching and large animals there is a dearth of horse trainers and large animal vets.  If anyone knows of a large animal vet or horse trainers who are looking for a warmer climate....point them our way.