It's dandelion season! I've really enjoyed getting to know these flowers over the years, they are a great weed for my honey bees to enjoy while the other spring flowers wake up.

Every part of the dandelion flower is edible, from the root to the flowers so makes for a safe and easy foraging activity.

My bun Delilah helping me sort the greens from the flowers.

I like to be part of the action (I really just want to hang out outside with them) so I've started trying out dandelion recipes myself.

Last year I made a dandelion wine. 3 month task that produced something edible but not exactly desirable. ..

This year I tried sautéed dandelion greens and a dandelion syrup or jelly. See the reactions videos here: The Greens and The Jelly

Sauteed Dandelion greens

1. Boil leaves in salted water for 3-4 minutes

2. Drain and let cool

3. Sautee in olive oil and slices of fresh garlic

4. Serve with salt, pepper and crispy onions.

The initial taste was fine, just a garlic taste but that bitter inside isn't far behind and it leaves one harsh taste in your mouth.

One commenter on Tiktok mentioned baby leaves are better and less sour. If I ever get the confidence to try them again I will definitely go that route and update!

For now, this meal was a 3/10

Dandelion syrup

2 cups of the dandelion flowers

1 1/2 cups of water

2 slices of lemon.

1. Soak flowers for 5 minutes in water to separate any dirt and bugs

2. Place in a saucepan with the other ingredients, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and let the mixture sit overnight (8hrs)

4. The next day, strain the mixture through a cheesecloth.

5. Measure your liquid and add equal parts brown sugar.

6. Heat slowly to dissolve the sugar then let mixture boil for 15 minutes.

7. Pour into a sanitized mason jar and let cool.

Enjoy in teas or coffee, apples or toast.

This one for me was a 7/10. Clearly shouldn't have used dark brown sugar but otherwise it was a fun new sweet treat.

Leave me a comment if there’s something Dandelion related you’d like me to try next year!

I recently visited The Inn on Prince Hotel in Truro NS for work and wanted to share a few things about my experience that may help others in the future.

I’ll start off by saying the stay was fine, overall no complaints- it was basically what I expected from a Hotel in a small town in NS.

The good:

Every staff member I encountered was very nice and pleasant to interact with but the front desk clerks weren’t overly chatty (more on that later).

As soon as I walked into my hotel room it smelled of fresh linens. You got the feeling that you were in a very clean space and I loved that.

The weather that weekend was less then ideal for walking around so I was very happy to have the in-hotel restaurant to go to (Bistro On Prince) for dinner and although the menu was small my meal was absolutely delicious.

I ordered the macaroni and cheese with a Greek salad paired with a local white wine.

They have multiple banquet halls and can accommodate large events.

Free breakfast was included, it was good- nothing spectacular but that was fine I was working after all I just needed fuel not to be wowed.

Coffee was not garbage- Yay!

I left the critters at home but they were a pet friendly place (for a fee).

The not so good:

Because the front desk staff weren’t overly chatty I found myself wandering a lot.. Looking for the ice machine, restaurant, stairs and trying to guess when they start serving breakfast and where was the worst. Figured it all out in the end but information or a map available in my room would have been nice or the staff giving a quick rundown at check-in- the place is very maze like and I have a poor sense of direction to begin with (LOL).

For those wondering, breakfast goes from 6AM to 10:30AM (As of April 2023) beside the restaurant.

Breakfast was busy, no place to put your dirty dishes and no one was consistently bussing the tables so I hung out and are my breakfast with a table full of other peoples dirty dishes. Not the end of the world.. Just weird hanging out with a stranger’s half eaten hash brown.

Coffee maker in my room only worked with the disposable cups due to it’s size, too short for my travel mug, that was a bummer.

Walls are paper thin (common) so sharing the hotel floor with a hockey tournament was very noticeable.

The Ugly:

The heating/ cooling unit was incredibly loud, especially when it starts up. I like a cool room for sleeping so it was set on heat at 19 degrees Celsius so it didn’t come on often but holy when it did you knew it- woke me up 3-4 times through the evening.

Lastly, the toilet flush had no pep. Nothing was going down on the first try.. Nothing..

Overall though like I said the visit was fine, they served their purpose at the end and any complaint I had was more of an inconvenience then an actual complaint.

My recommendations if you are staying there is to ask questions as information is not volunteered to you, turn off the thermostat if you want a good nights sleep and check that toilet before you get too comfortable.

Hope this helps! Happy Travelling.