Week of October 13, 2024 – Fallen tree, posts placed, carrots planted, & Polvorosas.

(Above: Today I made the garden rows. In the rows on the left, I planted radishes and arugula. In the rows on the right I planted a lot of carrots.
Hoy formé las hileras del jardín. En las hileras de la izquierda, planté rábanos y rúcula. En las hileras de la derecha planté muchas zanahorias.)

10/13/2024: Today began in the low 60s and warmed into the mid 80s. Sunny.

10/14/2024: Today began in the high 50s and warmed into the mid 80s. Mostly sunny.

10/15/2024: Today began in the high 60s and warmed into the low 80s. Mostly sunny.

10/16/2024: Today began in the high 50s and warmed into the low 70s. Mostly sunny.

10/17/2024: Today began in the low 50s and warmed into the high 70s. Sunny and dry.

10/18/2024: Today began in the low 50s and warmed into the low 80s. Mostly sunny.

10/19/2024: Today began in the low 60s and warmed into the 80s. Partly cloudy.

Final note: Luna gave me a recipe for a specific type of cookie that many Venezuelans enjoy around Christmas-time. The recipe required a bit of sugar, and sugar has different properties than Splenda when heated* so I had to further modify the recipe by adding eggs. Despite these changes, the final texture of the sugar-free cookies seemed quite similar to what she described: a cookie that crumbles easily, leaves a little bit of butter on the fingers, and melts in the mouth. In other words, they were quite delicious.

*Sugar becomes a liquid binding agent at high temperatures. Splenda seems to remain dry.

Recipe: Venezuelan Polvorosas (sugar-free version)

Cookie Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
1 cup Splenda
2 Teaspoonful ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (beaten)

Honey-Butter Glaze (optional but much recommended):
3-4 tbsp butter
1 tbsp honey
A sprinkling of cinnamon, to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 305 degrees F.
2. Mix the flour, butter, Splenda, cinnamon, and salt. This can be done with a fork, but hands make the job much easier. The mixture will be very crumbly at this point.
3. Slowly add the eggs, mixing gently. It is important to mix gently, because gluten must not be allowed to form.
4. Once the dough is in a cohesive and slightly crumbly mass, form about 25-30 balls of dough. Each cookie takes about 2 tablespoons of dough.
5. Place these dough balls on a cookie sheet and flatten each with the back of a spoon or spatula until each is about ½-inch thick.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. It will depend on the oven utilized. Remove when they start to turn golden.
7. After removing the cookies, heat the honey & butter in the microwave. Stir, and then dip each cookie into the glaze before returning them to the tray to cool. Sprinkle each with a little bit of cinnamon.
8. Enjoy!

1 thought on “Week of October 13, 2024 – Fallen tree, posts placed, carrots planted, & Polvorosas.”

  1. Okay, a few comments this week, Grimace is my 3rd favorite son just so you and C know. The food this week was tremendous, las galletas es muy muy buena… And ‘nuptial pads’ is a new entry into my vocabulary. Muchas gracias por compartir esta semana.

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