Time to talk of other things ...

  Home-brew American Ale A rite of passage when one retires it to dabble in hobbies. What better way to take a plunge in the deep end than home brewed Ale, especially when one has delightful friends who grow their own Cascade Hops (talking about you, Bill Z), have the brewing kit and caboodle (shout out to Rajiv S) and are generous with advice (take a bow, Jarl N). Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.  ~ Dave Berry Ingredients for ~5 gallon (19L) American Ale Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/homebrewing-pale-ale-for-beginners-extract   6 gallons of reverse osmosis water.  6 pounds Briess Golden Light GBW dry malt extract (DME) 1/2 pound Viking Malt Caramel 50 (20L), crushed 1/2 pound Carapils Malt, crushed 1 ounce Cascade hops after 30 minutes 3 ounce Cascade hops after flame out for dry hopping 11.5 gram package Safale US-05 dry ale yeast

  Authentic Homemade Spicy Tomato Sauce Everything tastes better with hot sauce!! The Willowgate Community Garden in Mountain View, California is blessed with Mediterranean climate that is great for growing the tomatoes, chilli peppers, onions, garlic and fresh herbs required to make this sauce.  This sauce is very versatile and goes on pizzas, pasta and any number of meat and vegetable dishes.  It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato. ~ Lewis Grizzard This recipe makes 5 pint jars.  You can swap out the chilli peppers with basil if you prefer a sweeter sauce. Ingredients 10 lbs tomatoes, grated and strained to give 10 cups of extract (preserve seeds and skin for other use in other cooking)  5 cups onion minced  1 cup olive oil  40 cloves garlic (broiled) 20 jalapeño peppers (broiled)  5 teaspoon cumin seeds  5 teaspoon paprika  5 teaspoon Garam masala  5 teaspoon kosher salt  2 cup Italian parsley fresh, finely chopped  1 cup cilantro

 Nest for Mason Bees Handle nature as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness and in doing so let it flourish, do not damage it ~  John Muir Mason bees   (Genus Osmia, Family Megachilidae)  refers to a species of solitary non-swarming non-stinging bee. They're called masons because of their nesting habits, when they use mud to seal the eggs. Females live for up to 6 weeks, during which they have to build nests, mate, lay eggs, foraging for food to seal with each egg etc. Small wonder then that the female mason bee is extremely active working.  Remember mason bees don’t produce honey, so their prime goal for collecting pollen is to feed their brood. When a mason bee forages, it rolls in pollen to collect as much as possible. Without pollen baskets, it relies on the pollen sticking to their fur, making them excellent and valuable pollinators - by some estimates visiting up to 2500 flowers each day making them 1000 times more productive than a single honey bee !! After mating, the