Chef Sandy's Roasted Garlic

Bonjour... eeet ees I, Chef Sandeeee... [blink]... Oh, heck... it's me Sandy!!

We had a lot of garlic last year and haven't used it all... and it's starting to sprout soo... it's time to make some roasted garlic!

First we cut off the top bit of the garlic bulb and then peel off all the excess skin...

Our garlic is "hard neck" garlic... can you tell why? I eventually took a garden clipper to trim those down!

Sometime a chef needs to use strange utensils... whatever works!

There we go... now it's time to pour some olive oil over each of the cut ends...

Mmmm... looks good... Then it's off to the 400F oven for about 45 minutes (under aluminium foil)...

While they're roasting... I was tasked with frying up some sausage and bacon... but not just any sausage... feta spinach chicken sausage!!!

Ooops... sorry Little Fox (chicken fiend) and Droopy (bacon fiend)... forgot the drool alert! oopies....

Ummm... so back to the garlic... after it came out of the oven, we jimmied the garlic cloves out of their skins...

Don't they look scrumptious?? Now we put them on a cookie sheet and individually freeze them in the freezer and then into a ziploc in the freezer for later use...

Mmmm... do you cook with garlic??

Some Stuffie Friends

Hello - I was reading one of my pal's blogs the other day - Little Fox - perhaps you've heard of him? Intrepid adventurer and archaeologist... that's him! Anyhow... he went to Florida and met a bunch of stuffies at Sea World... some of whom bear (hah!) a passing resemblance to other pal... Oogie! Anyhow... I realized that I might know a few other stuffies who might be related to Oogie... so I went on a quest.

Wanna come along?? OK... let's go... first up... we have to look... well... up!

Yes indeedy... I wouldn't have believed it either... this is a beary special turtle...

The Wall Turtle... I didn't get into a long conversation with Wall Turtle because... well... you know... this blog does need to get posted soon.

Then I met this little guy... little... but disproportionately heavy... not that that's a bad thing of course... or that he needs to lose weight... heavens no... I didn't mean that. ... OK... moving right along then!

Hmmm... odd colouring on this one... the Apricot Green Shelled Turtle. Intriguging...

So far I haven't met any that look a heck of a lot like Oogie but... we still have a few more to track down.

Ah... this is more like it... but this one... her name is Slo (I wonder why)... says she's never heard of an Oogie. I even tried pronouncing it Oooooooooooooogggggggiiiiieeee... but no luck. Maybe I just don't speak turtle very well?

Goodness! And this is one the renowned Behemoth Turtles!!!  Look at those flippers...

Oh... what have we here?? Hmmm... those eyes kind of remind me of Oogie a bit... what do you think?

Oooh... one could get lost in those eyes!

Well then... is it time for gardening yet? Apparently not... cause even though I have pronounced spring... we still have some lingering snow piles... stay tuned!

Where is Spring?

OK... is it just me or... is this like, a really long winter? We still have snow!!!

But... I noticed that our little garden flag out front was still a snow man and... began to wonder... maybe all this snow was... my fault? Or the fault of the humans for not changing out the yard decor?

Is that even possible???

Oh... and we still had a snowman entrance mat our front... OK... this little bear is taking matters into his own paws!!!

I rummaged around in some boxes and found our spring garden flag...

I hope this works...

And... I'm going to go in and get changed... just to show the weather gods that I mean business... Be gone Winter... come on Spring!

Ooooh... I think it worked!!!

 Green grass... ahhh....

Do you think there are any flowers out yet?

Ah-hah! Snow drops!

And some crocuses!!

And heather... I think spring is finally here! Which means there will be a LOT of yard work requiring stuffie supervision... I wonder if Jerry & Ben are available?

The Blizzard of 2019...

Oh... my... goodness!!! Look at all that snow!

Oh, hello! Otto is here for a visit and... can you believe it... we got snow!

It's actually quite a bit of snow - up to my shoulders and Otto will probably be buried...

Or not... there is something to be said for light-weight stuffies!

Let's go play!

Otto is normally a river otter but... he's doing pretty good in the snow.

It sure is coming down though... and then we got the idea to go sledding! But... unlike Jerry and Ben, we don't have a Super Slider Flyer sled soooo... raided the tupperware containers...

We're all set... Rose is going to give us a big push down the hill... hold on!

wheee....

Ooof... face plant in the snow...

Maybe we need a sliding track? We engaged the humans to shuffle a sliding track down the hill...

And... we're off!

whew... that's exhausting! And it's really coming down too...

Like... really coming down... I can barely see anything!

Rose was kindly ferrying us around the yard looking for better sledding hills but then...

We had a bit of an accident...

Otto? Where are you Otto???

Good grief... I think we need to retire to the living room and have a hot chocolate with cookies and maybe some real chocolate!