More pieces, more puzzles [collections]

Today on the blog we have puzzles featuring what I’m calling collections of things, specifically chocolate, doors, soda cans, and toy cars.

We’re starting with a 1000-piece puzzle aptly titled “Chocolate!” by Re-marks according to a Reddit post found by Google image search (the puzzle’s packed away and yes, in this case I am being too lazy to go look at the box). The Re-marks website doesn’t have a whole lot of information, but they seem to be a jigsaw puzzle-only company that’s on the newer side and operates on Pacific time. This was a fun, relatively quick solve that will probably make you want dessert if you’re a chocolate fan.

Chocolate!

Our second puzzle of the post is doors of all colors and styles. I’ve personally seen a couple different versions of this puzzle, and a quick search reveals at least half a dozen variations for sale, but the one we did was by Kodak (“Colorful Montreal Doors”). It looks like the Kodak Premium Puzzles line is now distributed by Cra-Z-Art, who are the ones responsible for the much maligned RoseArt crayons. I can’t speak to the quality of new Kodak puzzles, but the one we assembled was fine, and there’s something classic about the color and subject matter of a Kodak puzzle.

Doors

Next is soda cans of a vintage nature, another 1000-piece puzzle by Springbok (“Retro Refreshments”). One of the notable things about Springbok puzzles is their random cut, which could be a plus or minus depending on who you ask. Another thing about this puzzle in particular is that the soda cans are in the same order on the different rows, which again, some people may enjoy as an added challenge and some people may find frustrating. In my opinion, Springbok tends to make a quite cardboard-y feeling puzzle, and the pieces go together well, but the final product isn’t as smooth as a lot of other brands. It was still an enjoyable solve.

Soda cans

Last up for today is “Toy Car Spectrum,” a 1000-piece offering from Buffalo Games. It was similar to the other puzzles in this post in that they tend to be colorful and usually come together faster than landscape-type puzzles due to the colors and distinct lines between elements. In general, I like doing this kind of puzzle, especially when they’re acting as a palate cleanser after yet another world’s hardest gimmick puzzle I just had to try.

(Toy) Cars

Quarterly baking report [Q1 2023]

My cooking is best described as edible, so I wouldn’t entirely trust anything I have to say about dinner recipes, but people at least tell me they like my baking. Here’s a review of what we baked in the first three months of 2023 with some notes.

Linzer cookies – King Arthur Baking – This was a post-Christmas bake (hence the Christmas tree shapes). I’m pretty sure I would have reduced the sugar from 1/2 to 1/3 cup, we may have used one whole egg instead of an egg yolk, and we substituted almond extract for the lemon zest/cinnamon and vanilla. The almond extract we had was quite strong, so maybe be aware of that if you do a similar switch. The cookies come out like a crisp sugar cookie with a finer crumb, and I used jam for the filling. Our cookies turned out well, though very almondy. The dough works nicely, so the rolling/cutting out isn’t too tedious. Would bake again.

Clockwise from top left: Linzer cookies, filled wool roll, Nutella/chocolate babka, cranberry apple galette

Filled wool roll – King Arthur Baking – We may have baked this partly (mostly) because it looked interesting. It’s a sweetened bread, so I think we followed the recipe exactly this time. The base is a Japanese milk bread that’s then filled, rolled, cut, and shaped to give it its form and the filling is a mixture of cream cheese and freeze-dried fruit. This was a fun and tasty bake, but as usual I’m reminded of why I don’t bake bread that often because why does proving take so long?

Coconut shortbread cookies – Not sure on the recipe for this bake, which was done mainly to make a dent in some expired coconut flour. I liked the cookies, though the coconut flour definitely does something to the texture.

Prinsesstarta – The Great British Baking Show: The Big Book of Amazing Cakes – I picked up the book at the library, wanted to make something from it, and had a birthday cake to make: enter, Prinsesstarta. For those unfamiliar, it’s a cake layered with jam and pastry cream, then covered in whipped cream and marzipan. Going in to the bake, I knew it would be a long process, and after having done it, the cake is good, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort for me. I can confirm I’m in the pro-marzipan camp though.

Prinsesstarta

Cranberry apple galette – The Pioneer Woman – For pie day we went slightly off script with a galette. My pie crust is still a work in progress so I can’t say too much about the recipe. Overall, it was more or less edible, and the fruit was great.

Nutella/chocolate babka – Again, I’m not positive which recipe we ended up using. I do know we made a Nutella variation on a babka, and as long as your bread turns out, it’s bread and chocolate so assuming you like bread and chocolate there’s not much to complain about. Same comment as above about proving but otherwise I have no grievances against the recipe.

911 Trail [May 2023]

The 911 Loop Trail is located behind the 911 Memorial field in Southborough, MA. The 911 field is an artificial turf field used for youth soccer, football, and lacrosse that’s been in use for at least a couple of decades. I believe the 911 trail is a newer development, possibly a result of a Covid-induced renewal of interest in the outdoors, but don’t quote me on that.

The trail is a 1.2-mile loop on a peninsula in the Sudbury Reservoir. One side of the loop goes along a Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) access road while the other follows the shoreline more closely. The access road portion of the trail is wide and flat, probably accessible to strollers and mobility devices, but near the reservoir and on the other side of the loop the trail is narrower and rockier. The whole trail travels through forest and provides view of the Sudbury Reservoir.

We hiked the trail in mid-May when the leaves and ferns had reappeared after another New England winter. Lily of the valley, wild geranium, and starflowers were in bloom, and we also found a number of oak apples (oak galls). Turns out oak galls are formed by chemicals from some gall wasp larvae to protect them as they grow, so that was a fun discovery. No wildlife sightings except a possible double-crested cormorant to report, but there were a lost umbrella and multitool.

Clockwise from top left: Oak gall (cross section), lily of the valley, wild geranium, starflowers

As far as hiking trails go, the 911 Loop Trail’s on the shorter side, with minimal elevation changes, so it could be fairly easily covered in 30-60 minutes depending on how many botanical/environmental tangents you get sidetracked by (all of them, if you’re hiking with me). It’s a pleasantly wooded trail with some nice views of the reservoir, so a good easy trail with decent payoff. Quick post for a quick trail today; I’ll be back later with a report from the kitchen.

Fern land

Go Out Doors and MacCallum Wildlife Management Area [May 2023]

Ellsworth McAfee Park in Northborough, MA was hosting an outdoor art event called Go Out Doors where local artists painted, as you might have guessed, doors, that were then displayed in the park. There were nine doors in total, placed along one of the sidewalks through the park. I liked the landscapes and the goats, and the second door from the left below (A Walk by a Pond) had a bunch of local wildlife sprinkled throughout the painting, including a frog, Canada goose, wild turkey, skunk, deer, groundhog, and raccoon.

 

Doors (from left to right) (click to enlarge) - Kids at Play (Brittni Laquidara), A Walk by a Pond (Rose Herrmann), Local Getaway (Lisa Hayden), No Place Like Home (Suzanne Cox), Purple Guitar (Jill Strait), What's your Dream (Anne Plaisance)

The park also has courts for pickleball, volleyball, and basketball, as well as soccer fields, a playground, and a walking track. When we were there, it was fairly busy with youth soccer, kids on the playground, people playing pickleball, and parents and families walking. After admiring the doors, we headed down the street to the Wayne F. MacCallum Wildlife Management Area (MacCallum WMA).

Massachusetts Wildlife Management Areas are managed by the commonwealth through MassWildlife and are intended to provide land for wildlife. They may be used for hunting and fishing as well as hiking and bird watching, and are typically less developed than parks, with parking lots and trails that may be unpaved. MacCallum WMA covers 906 acres in Northborough and Westborough and contains Lake Chauncy and Little Chauncy Pond. Until 1971, the Lyman School for Boys, a reform school established by the state, ran the school and a farm on the now WMA land.

Hole in the trees

We hiked a ~3.5 mile loop to Lake Chauncy, up the lake, and back to the west parking lot. Trails were not paved but main trails to and around Lake Chauncy were wide and easily passable, varying from dirt and gravel to grass. Side trails through the woods were narrower though still easy to follow. There are maps available but there is no signage in the WMA itself and trails don’t always appear on the maps. You probably won’t get lost, but you may not end up exactly where you’re intending to go the first time.

Pond by the west entrance

The landscape varies from ponds and lakes to forest and fields leased for corn growing. Wildlife sightings were plentiful and included a red-tailed hawk, a goose, red-winged blackbirds, frogs, turtles, and a coyote(?!). The weather was nice, the trails were pleasant, the surroundings were interesting, and we didn’t get eaten by a coyote, so all in all, it was another successful hiking trip.

Eastern coyote (according to Google Lens)

Cedar Hill and Crane Swamp [April 2023]

The Crane Swamp Conservation Area is a 2,225-acre parcel of land located mostly in Northborough, MA that includes Cedar Hill, managed by the Sudbury Valley Trustees (SVT), and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) land with a water treatment plant. Cedar Hill as well as the other hills in the conservation area are drumlins, formed by glacial activity, and the other main attraction is the 400-acre red maple swamp. Trails at Crane Swamp are part of a trail network linking it to neighboring towns, and I’d estimate there are around 4-5 miles of trails with loops of 1-4 miles possible to hike.

Eastern bluebird

We visited on a spring day in April 2023, and it was one of the last hikes we took before I got my stalker Garmin watch, so I don’t have watch data, but I’m pretty sure we did a 2.5 mile loop on the Cedar Hill and Crane Swamp Trails that takes you up to the top of Crane Hill and into the swamp down to the aqueduct where the MWRA treatment plant is. I’m guessing we were there for a little under an hour and a half, which is either a fairly moderate pace or a moderately fast pace stopping to examine every wildflower, bird, and skunk cabbage you encounter. I’ll let you guess how I hike.

Crabapple tree in bloom

The main trails were well signed and pretty well maintained and easy to follow. On this visit the skunk cabbage was abundant, wild violets and bluets were out, crabapple (I think) trees were in bloom, fiddleheads were unfurling, leaves had not quite emerged, and we had sightings of an American kestrel and an eastern bluebird. Looking back at photos, I think it might have drizzled on us a bit, but otherwise the hike was nice. The view from the top of Cedar Hill was what you might expect of a hill in the suburban northeast – lots of trees and some occasional buildings. Good for a quick outing, at least in the spring. That’s foreshadowing for a future post, if I ever get around to writing it. I am officially just about 2 years behind now, but I’m hoping I can start catching up with some quicker shorter posts. Here’s a start, at least.

View from the top of Cedar Hill