What I see on my night walks and nightwatch- because the night keeps no secrets

Once again, I've got an A-hole trolling me on here. Guess what "Anonymous" you are becoming less and less relevant. See I didn't even reply to your last couple jabs...

So enjoy my silence. Idiot.

Went for a night walk- after dad and I made the blackberry basil syrup from the last post- check out this picture awesome grainy picture:

I like walking at night because the night is more honest. People believe the darkness conceals them, or they believe others are sleeping even though they themselves are awake... so they put on fewer airs.

I walk the neighborhood whenever the weather is nice- and I see a lot. If people's lights are on.

I look in. Usually I see them picking their noses, or popping their zits in the mirror. 

I don't get a rush that- but its interesting to learn more about how people behave when they think they are alone. 

Sometimes I see them fighting with their wives... Once I saw someone doing other things with his wife. It was pretty vanilla. I didn't get much out of that either... I get more of a rush when I see people fighting. 

I've seen people crying a few times. usually I just see people staring into space or gazing at their phones. 

Because the sun is down, they think nobody else is up and watching. 

The night can't keep any secrets, and the night isn't a very good liar. 

I also see wildlife once in a while. Last night, these deer were only 10 feet away from me. They looked at me fore a while. 

I like the way their eyes look in the flash- almost ghostlike. Kinda spooky. 

I wonder why they weren't scared of me though. 

Probably because they didn't know what happened to the possum. 

I wonder what it would be like to get a deer... They are a lot bigger than a possum- so how hard would it be? 

Maybe I'll try to figure out a way to trap one of them in the woods out back, and then see what I can do. 

Eventually the fawn left, and the doe followed. I got one last picture of the doe. 

Bye bye for now...

Harold's Berry Basil Syrup (BONUS infused alcohol!)

Today we picked a bunch of blackberries off the bushes out back!

Dad showed me how to make his blackberry basil syrup!

Add it to smoothies or yogurt, drizzle it on vanilla icecream, stir it
into some coconut milk, or make a soda by mixing it with
sparkling water! Also great on pancakes or oatmeal!

1) Of course, first things first we picked the berries and basil and soaked them in water.

We ended up filling two large serving bowls

2) Then we put all the berries in a sauce pan, with the juice from 3 small limes. Let them simmer, and they'll start to get juicy:

A

C

B

3) after they look like picture C, you can add sugar to taste- dad like's it a little on the sour side, you'll probably want to add more. Don't add too much at once though, you'll still have time to add more if its not sweet enough.

4) Now bring the heat up to a low boil, and let it stew for a while. We used this time to chop up the basil:

FRESH BASIL!

Nothing smells better!!

5) You've got time to eat dinner, or do some work in the garden, or just relax- just stir periodically. DON'T ADD THE BASIL YET! 

6) After about an hour, we brought the whole mix up to a rolling boil for around 10 minutes: Keep stirring!

7) Then we cut the heat down to the lowest setting and added the basil. The basil smelled so good! I couldn't stop sniffing the empty bowl. 

heat ruins the 

flavor of basil, that's why we waited 

to add it (Make sure heat is low!)

8) Strain out the seeds, let the syrup drip into a pan on low heat. Push as much of the goods stuff through the strainer as you can. We found a lot of the thicker syrupy stuff clung to the underside of the strainer, so we used a rubber spatula to scrape it off and stir it in.

Stir the whole time! This is also your last chance to add more sugar.

9) While you are stirring the syrup, you should be able to "cut" a path in the liquid before it comes back together. That means its thick enough to be syrup (but not jelly) once it cools. See video:

10) Jar it! I asked dad why we didn't bottle it, he said he's never had it happen but he supposes its possible it could set into jelly, and then be stuck in the bottle. 

YUM!

You wouldn't expect it but blackberry and basil go super well together, but they taste so right once you give it a try!

BONUS:

Dad uses the leftover pulp to make blackberry basil vodka. 

Just scoop the mash into a very large mason jar, and fill with vodka. Let it sit for a couple weeks, (he says the longer the better), then you strain out the seeds and pulp, and are left with a purple vodka which dad says tastes great. 

Give it a shake every so often, and keep it 

refrigerated if you've got more fruit in there than alcohol. 

Check out my Dad's other garden recipes!