• Wednesday-What'sUP July 30 - 10:48 pm

It looks like everything's coming up floral today on the Pasty Cam, thanks to Brenda Leigh. I'm not certain whether these are all flowers she planted in her yard or if she spotted them in her travels. One thing for sure, they will add some color to your day.

The field of daisies reminds me of the saying fresh as a daisy. Since a daisy's petals fold up at night and open again in the morning, following the example of these white and yellow beauties, someone who has rested up is then bright and ready for whatever the day will bring. Therefore they are fresh as a daisy!

So if the daisies haven't brightened your day quite enough, Brenda throws in several brilliant looking Poppies and some flashy pink Lilies. If you look closely at the Lilies, you'll see they're glistening with beads of water, either after a rain or after they've just been given a drink. I hope they weren't watered too late in the day, as I was once told that you should never put your plants to bed with wet feet! :->

Absolutely gorgeous!!!!

Those poppies look a lot like Hyacinths too.

Beautiful colors

did you know daisies are edible too? yummy

We would make a picnic of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a mayonaise jar with kool-aid and sit down in the daisies in the field and make daisy chains....

Daisies are my Moms favorite so we always picked her bouquets. We were never patient enough to color them with Koolaid.

Lots of color today, Brenda has a nice spot

OK, not to change the subject, but I have a question for the pasty experts out there. I have my grandmother's pasty recipe which is delicious. The only thing that my kids want to know is how do they get the meat 'like that' in the UP ones that we buy? My meat is cubed very small. In the bought pasties it is smashed almost paper thin. Is it done with a meat grinder? What are the meat methods for pasties? I live in NJ now so there are no pasty experts around here to ask. Thanks for input.

We didn't color the daisies with the Kool-aid on our picnics, we drank it. I have colored daisies, though, with food coloring.

I was taught by my mother-in-law to make pasties. She grew up in Eagle River. She used ground beef, preferably ground round, but it should have some fat in it to keep the pasty moist inside. Just take your hands and break it into small pieces and add to the other ingredients. I also add about 1/2 teaspoon margarine on top of mixture before sealing up the pasty and then after I make a slit in the top I add about 3 tsp. of water. This all helps to make it steam inside and keeps them from drying out. I have been making them this way for 35 years. Can't beat a homemade pasty.

Bravo Brenda! Truly Amazing!

Mary...The daisies were in a field not far from home. The poppies are an annual that kind of reseed themselves every year and they are in my gardens. The pink lillies are in one of my perrenial gardens and they had recently had a rain bath. Speaking of rain... it has been a blessing to have so much. There is nothing like a good fresh shower to help speed the growth process of the flowers and veggies. My gardens have all surpassed last years growth...as we had very little rain last summer.

Thank you for sharing my photos and also the fine job you do on Pasty.com

anna swiniuchowski (Abswini):
"What are the meat methods for pasties?"

My mom's and (granny's) method was: Do not use store bought "ground beef", but grind your own, using good cuts of beef (grandpa did his own butcherin')!

They used one of these, configured for a coarse grind:



The advantage I find is that when baked, the ground beef forms a matrix that holds all of the other ingredients together, unlike some pasties made with cubed meat, which tend to fall apart while you're chowin' down on 'em! That's critically important when you're eatin' your pasty in hand out in the hayfield (or down in the mine, as in the days of yore)!

I love my meat grinder like that. Had it for eaons. Now I see them for sale or display as collectors items. Surprising how many of my kitchen necessities are now collector items. Of course after 50 years things have a way of changing. And not always for the better as far as I'm concerned. And I've done pasty meat both ground and cubed. But always good!

Also..as I'll be leaving this evening for vacation, I'd like to wish our friend and journalist Sharon Smith a Happy Birthday for tomorrow, the 31st. Good health and fine times to you. I look forward each evening to finalize my day with your fasinating journal, thank you Sharon.

i once knew a girl named daisy but these days my mind is kind of hazy ect.=

We have a few wild daisies here in Ohio, but not many. As we go north up I-75, I know we're really in Michigan when I see lots of daisies by the side of the road. And I know I'm Up North when I see the birches. (The count-down is 2 weeks and 2 days.)

no daisies here in my yard. had a beautiful pink rose growing alongside the lilac tree.......BUT and i say BUT because my dad cut the lawn the other day and he cut it down!!!!!!! i could of screamed lol well there is another growing there so hopefully it'll grow and open up. then i will have to take a picture of it. guess no flowers are safe around here in the yard grrr!!

We have an old grinder exactly like as pictured! Use it often for many things!

Lots of Daisys, Lilys around here now. Have a clump of beautiful tall "Michigan Lilys" aka "Turks-cap Lily" along the front fence by the road. Hibiscus coming soon! Also some Yuccas!

How come we don't get Lupines down here like I found near Chassell and saw all over the Keweenaw when we were (actually!) UP there a few weeks ago?

Great pics today! (well everyday!)

Russ Emmons, St. Clair county

oh and russ, we have a grinder like that also. it works good for things other than just meat too! just that we have a beautiful oak table and my mom would kill us if we hooked it to there, so we have to use the table in the living room when we use it.

Thanks for all the input for pasty making. My mom, who just passed away at 91, had one of the meat grinders pictured here so I will claim it and bring it to NJ just for pasty time. Cuisinart just won't do!!!! Thanks to all.

Grind up onions, carrots, turnips, for pastys or meat loaf; grind up cucumbers for home made relish; grind up whole cranberries for cranberry sauce; shelled nuts for baking, fudge or ice cream topping! etc. etc. We've even been known to grind up whole field corn kernels to make cracked corn for the small chicks and wild birds!
Good exercise!
On our older Formica top kitchen table we place a piece of hard paneling and/or hot pot holders between the grinders upper leg flange and the table. No damage that way.

My Mother had one of them grinders also. She would buy the best Ring Bolonga made in Hancock, MI. with sweet pickels and grind it up for the best sandwich spread I ever tasted. Maybe some Micarle Whip mixed in too.

Daises were always good for playing,You love me, you love me not,with your sweet heart on a picnic with the Koolaid jar, and some of them sandwiches.

Oh, yes, that sandwich spread. We had that all the time too. Yummm....now I want some...

Thank you 4 the flower photos.