Category Archives: Burrower: The Tiny Hippo

How to Carve a Pumpkin (Halloween Laboratory)

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Halloween is a very fun time of year and nothing adds to the spirit of the season like a good pumpkin carving. However, to properly create the best jack-o-lantern, one must follow some key rules of safe laboratory etiquette.

First off, sterilize all your instruments.

Carefully lower your instruments into the cleaning fluid

Oops, too many bubbles!

Lay out all your clean tools, an organized scientist is a good scientist

Prepare the patient for the operation

Now, don your protective eye ware

Make the incisions for opening the gourd

Excavate the subject, this will be messy

Now, carefully make your cuts

Next, set the experiment aglow!

Finally, bask in the splendor of your creation

There is nothing better than an experiment well done, and a new friend to show for it

Tiny Hippo at the Apple Orchard

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September is the perfect time to visit the local apple orchard. The air is crisp and clear putting one in the mood for long walks and tart apples!

So off I went to Wilson’s Apple Orchard, to partake of deliciously fresh apples. Of course, there are many distractions at the orchard, other than apples.

There are several pumpkin patches that are ripe for exploration

While I am not a huge fan of actual pumpkins…

I do love a good pumpkin flower!

Enough with delightfully tasty flowers, at the orchard, apples are my ultimate objective

Getting the best apples is always a bit of a challenge

First, develop a battle plan, you don’t want to get half way to your dream apple only to be foiled at the last-minute by poor planning

I like to use a sturdy rope with knots in it to reach the apples

Now then, once I secure my climbing rope in the tree it is time to climb!

Tiny hippo tree climbing, some would say an extreme sport, is certainly not for the weak of heart

Ah, at last I reach my lovely apple, how crisp it looks!

My apple picked, I put it in my red wagon, it is the perfect size for such things

My hard work has paid off, I can go home with my prize, after I show it to a few friends, of course

A trip to the apple orchard is a great way to spend the afternoon, and there are so many things that you can make with your freshly picked treasures. Check out my spicy apple chutney recipe, or my red rice salad with apricots, and try substituting apples in place of the apricots.

Spiced Whiskey Sour

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Spiced Whiskey Sour

This Spiced Whiskey Sour uses a variety of spices to add great depth of flavor to the more traditional whiskey sour. The nutmeg is sweet, the cinnamon is spicy, and the cayenne adds heat to the drink; all together they make for a well-rounded medley of spices that complement this tart whiskey concoction.

Ingredients:

2 shots of Revel Stoke Spiced Canadian Whiskey

2 shots club soda

1 shot lemon juice

1 tbsp honey (local honey from a small supplier is best, we love the honey sold by Indian Creek Nature Center, if you visit the center on a Saturday afternoon you can watch the beekeeper harvest the honey.)

1 pinch (1/16th tsp) powdered cinnamon

1 smidgen (1/32nd tsp) powdered nutmeg

1/2 smidgen (1/64th tsp) powdered cayenne pepper

Cinnamon stick and maraschino cherry for garnish

Method:

In a glass or beaker mix the whiskey, club soda, lemon juice, and honey. Making sure to stir well so that the honey dissolves, it is important to do this without any ice, otherwise the honey will get too cold and harden. Once the honey is dissolved, stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne. Now fill an Old Fashioned glass 3/4ths full with ice. Pour the drink mixture slowly over the ice. Garnish with cinnamon stick and maraschino cherry, serve immediately.

Yields enough for two Old Fashioned glasses.

Because this Spiced Whiskey Sour uses honey instead of homemade simple syrup no electrical appliances (like the stove top) are needed to create it, making this the perfect drink for when the electricity goes out.

Even a Tiny Hippo can make this drink in the dark, it’s that easy and oh so good

Activities for when the Electricity goes Out

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Advice from a Tiny Hippo: Things to do When the Power Goes Out

There are plenty of activities that you can do when the electricity goes out, so don’t fret.

First, find your emergency rechargeable mushroom , and turn it on

Using some yarn, tie your illuminated mushroom to your back. This will help you find your way in the dark.

Now that you have a mobile light source, hunt down all the candles and flashlights in your house

Don’t be frightened by the strange creatures that your flashlight will create

It is probably just an adorable kitten

Instead of being frightened by the shadows, have yourself a puppet show

Enjoy an ice cream sundae, the ice cream is just going to melt and go to waste

While you’re in the kitchen, make yourself a delightful drink like my Spiced Whiskey Sour

End the evening with a nice cuddle

Electrical outages provide you with many opportunities for fun and adventure! So don’t be the grump when the power goes out for a few hours.

Avoiding Post-Vacation Blues

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Avoiding Post-Vacation Blues: Advice from a Purple Hippo

When returning from an amazing vacation  there is always the fear that post-vacation blues will hit the newly returned traveler. To avoid this gloomy mood, I will be posting several tips that are sure to brighten your mood and keep you excited about your vacation, even after it has concluded.

One of the best ways to extend your vacation experience is to bring back customs that you learned while on your travels. For a tiny hippo, such as myself, discovering new flavors are a big part of traveling. When I return from a vacation I try to bring home some new flavor ideas to recreate in my own humble kitchen. Once I have mastered the new food techniques at home I like to share them at a special occasion with friends and family. The perfect occasion for trying new foods is, of course, the picnic!

Here is my homemade ploughman’s sandwich with a lovely picnic spread

While traveling in the United Kingdom I fell in love with the ploughman’s platter, and more specifically with ploughman’s sandwiches. These scrumptious sandwiches are made with a hearty bread, an aged cheese, butter (all sandwiches in the UK seem to have butter on them), and spicy and tangy chutney. The chutney is key to this sandwich, without it you just have a plain cheese sandwich.

Recreating foods that you enjoyed during your vacation and then making a bit of an event out of them, such as a picnic, is a great way to bring your trip home with you. This post-travel tip allows you to bring your vacation home with you while avoiding corny souvenirs that have no personal connection to you.

Follow the link to my spicy apple chutney to spread onto your own ploughman’s sandwiches and stay tuned for homemade scones with fresh clotted cream.

Click here to see more of my Travel Tips.