Almond Blossom Flowers

The blossoms have finally been coming out in the last few days here in Beijing - but serially, hesitantly. There's still a hint of menace in the north wind - so the jasmine flowers won't bloom

Almond Blossom Flower
Almond Blossom Flower
Almond Blossom Flower
Almond Blossom Flower
Almond Blossom Flower
Almond Blossom Flower
Almond Blossom Flower

Almond Tree Blossom

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Almond Tree Blossom
Almond Tree Blossom
Almond Tree Blossom
Almond Tree Blossom
Almond Tree Blossom
Almond Tree Blossom
Almond Tree Blossom

Almond Blossom Van Gogh

I make my kids sing this, Alice Cooper style, every last day of school. If they don’t give a convincing performance, I make them do it until they do. We’ve got standards around here. To reward them for their efforts, I performed “MoneyGrabber” by Fitz & the Tantrums. It may have included a broom. Some kids might have covered their ears. A fun time was had by all.

I just peered out the window and saw my son running down the street with a gigantic yellow nerf gun. Let the awesomeness begin.

But this means I only have 10 minutes of nap time to dink around on the computer before somebody needs something or before I am called in as referee. I know, blog posts are popping up everywhere about how to maintain a good summer schedule. I’m not going to go there, just telling you that I have no idea, and right now watching tv and eating popcorn every day until our eyes bleed doesn’t really sound that bad.

Almond Blossom Van Gogh
Almond Blossom Van GoghLet’s get down to business. I calculated up the points last night and we have our Blogardy winners! I had enough stuff to divvy up, so I’ve chosen our top three:

1) Our Grand Prize Winner: Ally (who is trying to politely decline, but sorry) you’ve just won a Van Gogh Almond Blossom print, straight from the Van Gogh Museum!
Almond Blossom Van Gogh
Almond Blossom Van Gogh
Almond Blossom Van Gogh
Almond Blossom Van GoghA 2012 calendar featuring classic Parisian posters. Who doesn’t love Le Chat Noir? 8 million college students can’t be wrong, right? Seriously though, I do love it, despite its ubiquity. But wait, there’s more! I know your kids would love some sweet treats, so why not offer them some Eiffel Tower gummies straight from the Official Eiffel Tower Gift Shop?! And then you can hang up your favorite calendar pages with some Van Gogh magnets. You can do all this while smelling like a fine French woman, as I’ve also included some perfume/lotion samples that I picked up.

Almond Blossom

Almonds are members of the peach family. The tree blossoms in the spring before it grows leaves.

There are two kinds of Almonds, sweet and bitter. An Almond, technically, isn’t a nut — it’s the pit of a fruit related to peaches, plums and apricots. The Almond fruit is small, green and has soft, velvety fuzz on it; the fruit isn’t any good for eating, as it is tough and fibrous.

Sweet Almonds are usually blanched before use as the outer brown skin can in some people irritate their digestive tube. Some ground Almond packages sold may contain ground peach kernels to lessen the cost to the producer. Sweet Almonds are used both in meals and in desserts. If a recipe calls for Almonds, chances are it means Sweet Almonds.

Bitter Almonds are extremely poisonous when raw and untreated; it is illegal to sell them in their natural state in North America, though their sale remains legal in the European Union. Only the oil and extract is sold. Their oil is mixed with hydrous ferrous sulfate, which reacts with the prussic acid in the Bitter Almonds and causes it to form calcium ferrocyanide crystals, which can be filtered out of the oil, making it safe.

Almond Blossom
Almond BlossomBlanched Almonds have the brown skins removed from the nuts. The Almonds are scalded in boiling water, plunged into cold water, then put through rollers that rub the skin off. The nuts are then dried and packaged. Blanched Almonds cost more than unblanched because of the extra processing required, but not much more, and it’s almost always worth paying the extra to save yourself the fiddling at home.

If you are buying unshelled Almonds, ones that rattle a lot inside the shell have shrunk from aging, so you don’t want those.

Even if you have access to Almond trees, it’s not recommended to pick your own unless you truly know that they are sweet Almond trees and not ones that produce the bitter, poisonous Almonds. California now provides 60% of the world’s Almond production. In China, apricot kernels are often used instead of Almonds.
Almond Blossom
Almond Blossom
Almond Blossom
Almond Blossom
Almond BlossomIf your whole Almonds came with the skin on, or if you had to shell them, to remove the skin pour boiling water over them and let them soak for two minutes. Then drain, and rub the skin off. These are called Blanched Almonds.

To toast Almonds, spread them out on a baking sheet and then place on middle rack of oven preheated to 350F. You can toast slivers, halved or whole Almonds. If toasting sliced or slivered Almonds, watch them very closely as they can burn quite quickly. Toast about 5 minutes, then take out, toss, and return to oven until they are just turning a golden brown, about 15 minutes total, tops. Play close attention to them after about 12 minutes, as they can go from golden to burnt in a flash. Remove from oven, turn out onto a plate and let cool.