Sunday Snapshots: Of Coconut Milk as well as Spring Flora and Fauna


Spring has been a mixed bag this year, flip-flopping between summer and winter.

I made coconut milk at home using frozen shredded coconut and I'm never going back to canned coconut milk! Read my column on Whole Foods Market Cooking on How to Make Coconut Milk.

DIY Coconut Milk
How to Make Coconut Milk at home (Whole Foods Market Cooking)

Our Balvihar group went on a hike at Chautauqua Park, led by an OSMP volunteer. It was right after a spring snow storm, and while there should have been a carpet of wildflowers, we were hard-pressed to find even a few.

How to recognize poison ivy in winter
No leaves, brown berries in winter, that's poison ivy!

Western springbeauty
Springbeauty, one of the first flowers of spring

Mahonia
Mahonia, or oregon grape, the state flower of Oregon

Pasqueflower
Pasqueflower, usually seen around Easter

A friend had told me about a family of Great Horned Owls that was nesting in a cranny on a rock face on a very busy arterial road that leads to Boulder. I drove by nearly everyday for several weeks but never managed to catch a glimpse of the owls. I was driving, you see! I was lucky enough to see them last week because they were gone the next day.

Great Horned Owls
Great horned owlets

I hope the owlets made it because we had yet another snow storm that dropped over 6in inches of snow. That was the first day of May.

Happy May Day!
My backyard, May 1, Spring storm

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

5 comments:

Anita said...

Happy Spring to you too!

Just when I was planning to switch to canned coconut milk you come by and say, "no way!" I know it is not much effort, as long as thereis frozen coconut at hand.

Pelicano said...

That last pic of the snow-covered branches is really quite lovely! I'm reading your coconut-milk-from-frozen-coconut procedure now. I'll try that- much easier than dealing with whole coconuts, as well as the BPA!

Geneva said...

Wonderful. I never once thought of making my own coconut milk and never knew that the frozen coconut was available. This is going to be fun.

Unknown said...

How I miss my mother's vili! It was one of the first implements my mom had me master as a teen. I remember being quite proud of myself when I could shred an entire coconut without shaving the shell and with no coconut meat left behind.
I have that table top contraption too and can never use it with the same deftness.
Have never tried to make coconut milk from frozen coconut before. Excited to try this.
- Sharmila | Cheeky Chilli

Indian Food Rocks said...

Anita, you are lucky enough to have fresh coconut at hand! Have you made it yet? It is so much better than canned coconut milk!

Pel, thanks and yes, no doubt about it!

Geneva, I hope you try it. If you are going to drink this, then you must thin it out by adding more water. You will find frozen coconut in most Asian grocery stores. I believe that some Whole Foods also carry frozen fresh coconut.

Sharmila, isn't it an amazing tool?!

You could just use fresh coconut! I have been told that there are some grocers in the Bay Area who will crack open a coconut, grate it and divide it into two bags for you. If that is still true, all I can say is Damn! How lucky are you!