At the Botanical Garden
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| In the greenhouse at night, the atmosphere is unexpectedly spooky. We were invited to a reception with refreshments and a tour given by a staff expert. |
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| Several tables with food and beverages were set up in the greenhouse. |
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| One caterer offered Kailua pork and pineapple salsa. My favorite! |
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| I enjoyed hearing about the vanilla plant from the tour guide. They are hard to cultivate! He mentioned that an earlier plant had set one vanilla pod, but it died in a power failure. Later, a visitor to the garden stole the replacement plant!! |
In Our Kitchen
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| Cheeseburgers! |
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| Len is baking bread again. |
Thanksgiving Wrap-up |
| Curried chicken (from Thanksgiving leftovers). |
Maybe a Good Bird?
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| We saw this snowy owl in 2014 when these beautiful birds spread through Michigan, outside their usual range. This winter they again seem to be heading further south than usual. We hope they will be here! |
What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThat botanical garden is beautiful. We have one here but not near as nice and no food. What a treat. I made burgers ( no cheese) in the broiler the other night. I like them cooked that way. That bread looks so good. Oh heck, everything looks so good at your place. LOL Have a lovely weekend.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to Matthei in years. Decades. Your leftovers look awesome and so does Len's bread!
ReplyDeleteWe were told there were Snowy Owls near the lakeshore when we were in Chicago, but it was too cold to go outside.
ReplyDeleteI've been to the botanical gardens in Houston a couple of times, but never at night. How fun!
It sounds like you had some great food. Fingers crossed that you get to see a snowy owl this winter!
ReplyDeleteHello Mae,
ReplyDeleteLove the photos of the Botantical Garden and the Vanilla Bean plant. I have never seen one, it is crazy someone took the replacement plant. The food looks yummy. I hope you see lots of Snowy Owls there, I would love to see one here in Maryland this year. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Take care, have a great weekend. PS, thanks so much for leaving me a comment.
Great atmosphere and such yummy food, and oh, the owl! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThe botanical garden green house at night does look a little eerie, but what wonderful photos.
ReplyDeleteThat Botanical Garden does seem a little spooky, but the food looked good. And vanilla? I've never seen it in plant form.
ReplyDeleteMy Sunday Salon this week is really my 2025 Best Books Round-Up. I'm excited to share it. I'm been completely focused on it for the past two weeks. https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-top-50-books-of-2025-best-books.html
The botanical garden looks like a great time! And that snowy owl is pretty - I'll keep my eye out if there may be more around :)
ReplyDeleteThe botanical garden looks like a wonderful place to visit. As usual you shared some good looking food and if I ever saw a Snowy Owl I think I would jump for joy. I have never seen an owl of any kind in the wild (although we do have barn owls in our area but I never see them). That snowy owl is amazing. What a photo!! Thanks Mae
ReplyDeleteI can’t believe somebody stole a plant from the botanic garden’s! It looks like you had a lovely night though
ReplyDeleteWishing you a wonderful reading week
I've been to an event at the Missouri Botanical Garden at night. The Mediterranean House definitely has a different vibe at night without sun coming through the glass roof.
ReplyDeleteWo that garden is quite something and that owl in the son, makes my day as snow in Minnesota has been piling, (not yet a foot though)
ReplyDeleteOur local Botanical Garden should follow your Michigan example! And, first create a proper venue. What a fun idea.
ReplyDeleteooh, that bread looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteI hope you see some snow owls this year, I have never seen one IRL.
https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/12/07/sunday-post-151-after-a-busy-november/
I'd love to see a snowy owl and still haven't seen one in the wild. But maybe this winter!
ReplyDeleteI love going to Botanical Gardens.
ReplyDeleteThat's a beautiful outside space.
I've never heard of Pereg Hawaij for soup but since I love soup I ordered some.
I've never thought about making Cheeseburgers in the oven, I'm going to try it. I love pineapple salsa.
I bought a breadmaker a while back. I paid $172 for it and still haven't used it.
I have a Pampered Chef cutting board like that.
Beautiful owl! I started collecting owls many years ago.