Bearded Iris

Five years ago I bought some 'Black Bearded Iris'. They have not bloomed once. They looked healthy and multiplied like crazy, but no blooms. Every year my hopes would rise; 'Surely, this will be the year.' I'd think. One would produce a long fat leaf. 'Yes this is it, it's going to flower!' I exclaim.

  And finally, after a few days that-felt-like-weeks it would open- into several sword-like leaves.  I never lost hope, but I did begin to get the feeling the bulbs were mocking me.

  Well, no longer. One of them bloomed today. There are even two little buds with tiny black petals sticking out along the flower stem. Some of the other bulbs look like they are going to flower as well.
   
  

                                   I still don't know why they didn't flower for all that time...



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Photography

 I've started taking my product listing pictures outside. I used to take them on an end table in the living room (the only place in the house that gets direct sun for any amount of time), but thanks to the trees leafing out, that amount of time is so short it's barely calculable. Without di
rect sunlight colors tend to be off and metal, and sometimes fabric, items are either too dark to make out or they reflect the camera flash so badly you can't make out any details.

 After a several bad quality photos I would often get frustrated and take pictures of the item in my hand while I stood out in the yard away from the trees. Hence the calla lily earrings' product picture.

  The other day I thought to myself, 'This is stupid. Why don't I start out outside?' And from there it kind of snowballed into me using garden plants as a backdrop instead of the scrap fabric I usually use. I didn't have any new items to try this plan on, but I did have a few pieces who's photos where pretty bad.
  You couldn't really make out my Chain Earrings. The Red Scorpio choker's pictures showed it in two different shades of red. And the main photo of my Sleet Earrings was horribly blurry. So, I decided to try it out on them. It worked out pretty well once I figured out that you need
a somewhat solid background to really show off the items. I'm probably going to take all my photo's out side from now on. Plus it's fun to be outside! Lobo enjoyed it as well.

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Paper towel seedlings

Just a quick update today.

  I told you a couple of seedling come up when I tried growing catnip seeds in a moist paper towel after a few attempts to grow anything other than weeds with the normal sew seeds in dirt method failed.
 Well, I'm pretty sure I killed them all. A couple of weeks ago the two oldest sprouts started withering So I tried planting the seeds. It did not go well. The tops stuck to my fingers and the roots stuck to the paper towel resulting in seedling that where torn in half, like victims of some horrible witch-hunt.

I reseeded in dirt the other day. Here's hoping for better results.

There's than a week left of Bats Bizarre's Mother's Day sale. Use coupon code MOTHERSDAY before 5/12/13 for 5% off your entire purchase. Discount doesn't include shipping. Here's a link to my shop page https://www.etsy.com/shop/BatsBizarre?ref=si_shop
     

        Thank you for reading Bats Bizarre's official blog. Have a bat-tastic day!   

Fantastic Cheese Enchiladas / Happy Cinco de Mayo

   Happy Cinco de Mayo! This is a recipe for great restaurant style Tex-Mex Enchiladas. Be forewarned, this is not diet food and is addictive. Also it is a lot easier to make if there are more than one person  working in kitchen, mom and I make them  together. 

You can also add already cooked chicken, or spinach. We add spinach and kale to the cheese. And kale on top. I don't know what happened to the photos with the kale on top.



Here is a link to a printer friendly version: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LCS_etHQCnSad0Un9fWsw70okdQWpvG9MAvPfsjm_QI/edit?usp=sharing

   First make the gravy.

Chili Gravy

1/4 c. oil                          1tsp. salt
1/4 c. flour                       1/2tsp. pepper
2T. chili powder              1/2tsp. oregano
2tsp. cumin                      2c. chicken broth or vegetable broth (if you want)
1/2tsp. garlic powder       2T. tomato paste

   Heat the oil and flour, stirring constantly, until you have a light brown roux. Add chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and oregano. Cook for a minute. Add broth and tomato paste, stir until thicken into a sauce.

Then make the Enchiladas.

Cheese Enchiladas  (quantities depend upon how many enchiladas you plan on making)

Yellow corn tortillas                                                  Half a yellow onion, chopped  (optional)    
Half a loaf of Processed Cheese cubed           One green onion, chopped (also optional)
Chili gravy                                                     Shredded Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese                                                                                        

Dip a tortilla in hot oil, just a minute or so to soften them up and get the water out. Place some chopped onion and about 6 cubes of processed cheese in a line on a tortilla. Roll the tortilla around the filling and place in the baking dish. Repeat until the dish is filled or the desired numbers of enchiladas is reached. Cover with chili gravy, shredded cheese, and chopped green onion. Bake at 350 until the cheese bubbles. Enjoy.


I told you this isn't diet food. I guess you could bake the tortillas, but that usually results in burned tortilla chips in this house. Or maybe microwave them, since you're really just getting the frost out and softening the tortillas when you fry them.
          
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