Carol’s Chronicles – August, 2020

Welcome back to Carol’s Chronicles! This is the August edition. If you’d like to see the first edition, you’ll find a link at the bottom of this page. Just click, and you’ll be taken to the original page, which I started in July 2020.

August 20, 2020

A Texas Icon – Buc-ees !

My husband and I, and most of our family and friends, are big fans of Buc-ees! This place started back in the 1980s and has grown to a huge Texas institution. They are finally expanding to a few other selected locations outside of Texas, but they will always mean Texas to us. It’s hard to realize the size of Buc-ees and the enormous variety of merchandise and food items available there. And there is also very inexpensive gasoline, and ice! Although part of the store is aimed toward customers who are hunters, there is really something for everyone there.

We stopped at the Buc-ees in Texas City on our day trip last Sunday on the way home from Surfside. It’s always so nice to see the emblem on their sign because we know that we will find enormous, spotlessly clean bathrooms. I think the clean bathrooms is what originally sold me on Buc-ees, but I love a lot of other things about this mega-store. It’s got everything! My husband and I bought barbecue sandwiches (very popular – several types!), some chips (of course), a cone of roasted candied cinnamon pecans (our favorite also!), and I got a teeny cup of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream (also my all-time favorite). We picked up jerky for our granddaughter and a few other items. The soda is very cheap so my husband was happy to get a nice cold cup of that. I gave up soda about a year ago. Sometimes it’s hard and I really miss the cold fizzy soda – but I know I’m much better off without it. Bottled water for me – sometimes with fizz!

I know everyone will want a better idea of what Buc-ees is – a phenomenon of sorts – so just click below and watch my video-mini tour of Buc-ees. It was a super finish to a fun day out!

August 8, 2020

Everything’s coming up – cucumbers!

I was going to use a different headline – “Cukes are cute!” However, my experiences lately with growing cucumbers have not been exactly “cute,” so I decided to emphasize only that they are finally growing. So excited – have harvested three as of yesterday, and two more this morning, and there are two more almost ready! Several little ones are also just getting started, and the good news is that, finally, the bees have found my plants and are pollinating the flowers.

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My friend tells me that cucumbers can be a bit coy, or perhaps shy. is what she meant! I love the imagery – can’t you just picture those little babies hiding behind the leaves? In fact, they do hide in those vines. I managed to get a couple of photos of mine. It’s a surprise every day when I check the plant as there are always new ones forming! But – as you can see in the photo on the left, or below in this post, some of my cukes are having problems. Can you see the distorted shape of that one – a big ball-shaped cucumber with a tiny pointed end? I’ve had several like that, as well as some “normal” ones. Have you ever had this problem? Tell us in the comments, and how you fixed it, if you did!

There’s yet another issue with those malformed cucumbers – they are rather bitter or sharp tasting. Not what I’d call delicious, for sure. However, I know how to fix that problem – it’s the old-fashioned way to handle bitterness in some vegetables. I peel and slice the cucumbers and put them in a bowl. Then I add a generous amount of salt – not sure how much – maybe a teaspoon, maybe a little less – depends how many slices are in the bowl – and mix well. I let them sit for 10-15 minutes, then drain and rinse in a colander. Presto! Sweet, crispy cucumber slices for our salads. The salt draws out some of the moisture in the cucumber slices, and the bitterness comes with it. When they’re rinsed, the taste is much better! And another plus – you probably won’t need to add any salt to your salad – they’re not salty – just right! Here’s one I made – recipe forthcoming soon – very easy!

My husband and I love plain old cucumber and tomato salad, and even though I am not getting enough from the cherry tomato plant, the ones in the stores just now are super fresh and delicious. We’ve been having cucumber and tomato salad, with some chopped red onions and homemade vinaigrette, almost every night lately.

Regarding the misshapen cucumbers – I did some research – it’s most likely either due to uneven watering (could be – guilty as charged!) or the terrific heat we’ve been having down here in Texas. Both can be responsible. Another very probable cause is what’s called uneven pollination. That’s when the bees don’t do a good job pollinating the female flowers – so the fruit doesn’t grow right. Sort of like a defect at the genetic level – not much I can do except to try hand pollinating the flowers, but I’m not sure I am up for that yet. I’m sure the bees know how to do it better than I – I was truly happy to see the bees all over the plant yesterday and today. I’m hoping for a much “prettier” harvest in the weeks coming up.

Well … I just checked the plants and they are settled in for the night, and so am I. I’ll have a couple of interesting recipes coming up using the excess cucumbers from the garden – or those nice fresh ones you can get at local farmer’s markets, which are fortunately open even during these difficult times. Come back soon for those recipes and more, the newest news from the kitchen, the garden, and our mini day trip we made in Texas recently (since long-distance travel isn’t possible right now.

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