I don't dare plant outdoors yet, except peas. Here in Z6 we still can have a frost up until the last week of May. My pepper plants now have blossoms on them indoors, and te tomato plants will need staking when planted outside. They do get moved out to the greenhouse in about a week or so, just to harden off the greens. Soon, I can also plant the new asparagus plants grown from seeds, as well as some shallots I also started indoors. Found a broken glass pane on the roof of my greenouse. Thought my dad had a few spare pieces of 2x2 foot 1/8 inch thick glass, but when I opened the old box it was in, they were broken. Why he kept them I haven't a clue.. It will cost be about $17 per piece for some replacement glass. I would have opted to replace with a polycarbonate, but the roof needs more strength and rigitity to hold up to heavy snow loads.

I found this one with the same ingredient list except the yogurt but those should be interchangable. Mini Banana Whoopie Pies (Adapted from Martha Stewart) For the batter 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana 1/2 cup sour cream 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 large egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla For the filling 16 ounces cream cheese, softened 1 cup confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla To prepare the batter Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, stir together banana and sour cream. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugars until light and creamy. Add egg and beat until combined. Mix in vanilla. Alternately mix flour and banana mixture into the creamed butter, beginning and ending with flour mixture, mixing just until combined. Scoop the batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" round tip. Pipe batter into 1 1/4" rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Place into the oven and bake until the edges are a light golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove and transfer sheet of parchment to a wire rack and allow the soft cakes to cool completely. To prepare the filling In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla, mixing until smooth and creamy. On the flat side of half the cakes, spoon about one tablespoon worth of the filling on top. Top with the unfilled halves to form a sandwich. Lightly dust with confectioners' sugar before serving. Makes about 36 whoopie pies.

The food charts I have for how long you can keep bananas in the freezer gave no amounts of time, and one said "extended freezer time" - whatever that means (LOL). I guess the goal should be to use the frozen bananas in a timely manner (few months), but I was moving some things around in my refrigerator freezer and I found several ripe bargain bananas that were quick-frozen then placed in a FoodSaver bag, vacuum-sealed shut -- early last summer and promptly forgotten about. I made them into banana bread the other day for yet one more offering to the "throngs" for breakfast during their Christmas visit. When you vacuum-seal peeled bananas (or most food destined for freezer storage), they will last longer than in a typical storage bag because they are stored oxygen-free. Oxygen-free storage prevents the moisture inside the food from migrating from the surface of the food into the bag, drying out or creating ice crystals in the bag. A food science tidbit about using overly-ripe bananas for banana bread. When a banana bread recipe only calls for baking soda as the only chemical leavening, overly-ripe bananas are not as acid (6.5-7.0 pH) as a regular banana (4.6 pH) in order to react in partnership with the baking soda. The reaction may be a weak one resulting in a heavy banana bread. A good banana bread recipe, one that ensures adequate leavening, will use both baking powder and baking soda. If the recipe only has baking soda, make sure a portion of the bananas aren't overly-ripe, or there is another ingredient in the recipe that provides an acid ingredient. That could be some lemon juice added to the bananas to keep them from oxidizing and turning dark, orange juice, honey used as the sweetener, or yogurt, sour cream or buttermilk, which are all acid foods that will react with the baking soda. -Grainlady

The grocery store where I like to shop just did a massive reorganization. So, not only can I no longer find stuff but it turns out they also took the opportunity to discontinue some of my favourite brands of things such as tuna, pasta, hummus. I have a good thing - I run at 7:30 am with a group of people 3 x a week, always the same days and it is amazing how often it starts to rain just as we *finish* our run at 8:45. That's right, I said, finish and not start. We are mystified by it but we don't want to question it too loudly.