Congratulations to Lauren

After earning a five year Architecture degree and then working another five years while taking six very difficult licensing tests, my eldest is now a licensed architect. I am so proud of her and so happy for her. We celebrated last weekend with a backyard party.

Here’s some of the food and a sign with Lauren’s letters.

More food and my nephew, Collin, my brother, Dave, and my sister Margaret.

Lauren and her boyfriend, Colin, are walking past the Herb Garden on their way to the Party Garden.

Here’s a view of the food tent as shot from the Party Garden.

This is my son, Patrick, and his girlfriend, Lexie.

These are my brothers-in-law, Spike and Daniel. They made the sushi, which was amazing.

This is Michael and me behind  Lauren and Colin making a toast. There were tears.

This is the sound system. Michael is a recording engineer, so we always have a killer sound system. Don’t tell anyone, but, at one point, I grabbed that mic and started singing along to Miley Cyrus.

It was chilly, so we started the bonfire early.

Here’s my mom at the bonfire. This party came at the end of a wild month of work for me and I was horribly unprepared. Mom stepped up and made it all happen, and it was a great success. By the way, her admirer is my dad, her ex-husband.

Here’s Riley. She loves a backyard party, but I think she got too many treats from everyone.

This was Riley all the next day.

 

happy birthday to lauren

On March 30th,  my eldest turned 28. She and her boyfriend came down from Brooklyn to celebrate last weekend.Here’s birthday girl, Lauren, with our formerly feral cat, Brippy. This picture was taken in the middle of a party. Brippy has adapted.This is my youngest daughter, Laney, and Brippy. Laney is the one who tamed her with love and attention and time and treats. When Laney comes home from college, Brippy will often play hard to get – punishing her for her absence. But Laney is the only one who gets this melt down head-on-the-shoulder hug.  This is my son, and Laney’s twin, Patrick. Oh, and Riley. Riley knows how to seek out the best sofa/pillow experience.Here is a quick shot of some family members at the party. I don’t usually include family photos; we’ll see if I get the business.My brothers in law made this amazing onion bread for the party. Spike and Daniel recently moved up from Florida and we are so happy to have them so close!Here’s my new favorite thing – the cutting board Spike and Daniel gave me. It’s a cut from a tree of theirs. Pretty awesome. Oh, and those rosemary bar nuts? Amazing!

gifting

It’s the gifting time of year, and no matter how many items I check off the gift list, I never feel right until I include something home-made in the mix.

Over the years, I have made and given:

Ginger Lime Syrup for making home made Ginger Ale – also delicious in tea and apple dishes

A beach bag with a hand made pouch

 

Home made bird suet

A refillable burlap bird feeder

It was popular with the recipients as well as with the birds.

Regifting wine bags

And various gifts for my chicken lover friends –

And my cat lover friends

I hope someone will get some ideas for making some hand made gifts of their own. Let me know if you have any questions about any of these. Happy Gifting!

 

managing the produce

My vegetable garden is in full production this time of year, and I’ve come up with some strategies to not waste a bit of it.Tomato pie is a favorite. It gets a layer of goo over it before I cook it, but that wasn’t a pretty picture.Green beans, daikon, and cucumbers all get thrown into the same brine. I don’t trust my canning skills, so I just put them into the fridge. I also toss hot peppers into an empty jar of pepperoncini (save the brine). This preserves them until we get around to eating them.I make pesto out of the basil and freeze what I don’t use.

I keep a big bowl of salsa in the fridge all season long. We eat it with pizza, eggs, pasta AND Mexican food.Lastly, I just chop it all up to add to salads, sandwiches & cooking. Whatever’s left over gets frozen and added to soup in the fall. What do you do to manage the produce?

my favorite things

I’ve been thinking about my favorite vegetable to grow, harvest and cook, and to my utter surprise, it’s swiss chard. It’s super good for me; it has vitamins K, A and C, and it is anti-inflammatory & has anti-oxidants.As a plant, it’s easy. It always grows; I’ve never had one die on me. It forgives me if I don’t pick it at just the right moment. It keeps growing all summer, and it’s pretty. It’s simple to prepare. I rinse the leaves off, pile them up, slice them lengthwise 3 or 4 times, then chop it up. I saute it in olive oil and water with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (because red pepper flakes are good with everything). It’s tasty just like that.  But I make a ton of it and keep it in the fridge to do this:

• add to eggs and omelets
• spread over sautéed chicken & top it with swiss/parmesan cheese
• spread on top of pizza
• add to any kind of pasta
• add to soups and beans
• toss into salads
• spread onto toasted bread (with or without cheese – oh never mind – WITH cheese)

So I have to give an A+ to swiss chard: healthy, easy, simple, delicious.

Tomato Harvest

I’m picking all kinds of tomatoes daily now, and have found lots of yummy ways to use them.Grape and cherry tomatoes retain their shape well, so I use them with onions and green peppers and lots of herbs in Tomato Salad. I pretty much always have a bowl of this in the fridge.I also keep a bowl of fresh Salsa at all times. I take it easy on the jalapenos, because not everyone likes it as spicy as I do.On the days when I don’t pick many tomatoes, I’ll make an Herb and Tomato Quiche.If I pick a lot, I’ll make Tomato Pie.If I am overwhelmed with tomatoes, I’ll chop them up, saute with onion & garlic, and add anything I have in the vegetable drawers. This has cabbage, mushrooms, corn, and, of course, lots of fresh herbs. I don’t fuss much with it now, I just freeze it all for later. Some cold December evening I’ll thaw a container and add some cooked chicken or beef or lentils. I’ll adjust the seasoning then, and think back on the days when my garden was bursting and it was too hot for soup.

tomato time

Behold: my first tomato of the year. I ate this one warm from the sun, sliced, with sea salt and black pepper.

This is not one of the heirloom tomatoes that I started from seed; they are a bit slower. This is a “Celebrity” tomato. I bought the plants from the farm market down the road. After the first came ripe, I was almost struck with a glut. Never you mind. I can handle the challenge.
First up: Bread Kabobs.  Day old bread, tomatoes, olives, artichokes. Thread on a skewer & sprinkle with olive oil, salt, all sorts of Italian herbs AND red pepper flakes. Grill until toasty. Oh, my.

grilled salmon wraps

I’m getting lovely cabbages now, and I’m still getting Heirloom French Breakfast Radishes (those French people must have sturdy stomachs first thing in the morning.)To the radishes and cabbage, I added dill (still thrilled) and Swiss Chard (nearing the end).I used the large cabbage leaves and Swiss Chard as a wrap, topped it with cooked rice mixed with a bit of sour cream. I topped that with thinly sliced radishes, a 3 ounce salmon steak, and lots of dill. I used 2 skewers  to hold things together and grilled until it was firm to the touch.Grilled Salmon Wraps : even the leftovers were amazing.

tomatoes

Every year around this time, I start to run out of ways to use up all the tomatoes. Here’s a list of my current favorites:

1) tomato & pesto sandwich
2) tomato pie
3) tomato salad with green beans & black olives
4) pizza topping
5) salsa (always)
6) halve cherry tomatoes, chop green pepper & onions & sprinkle with oregano. Keep in the fridge ready to add to: pasta, omelets, salad, soup, quiche, or pizza

Cherry tomatoes, chopped green pepper & onions with fresh oregano

How do you use tomatoes?

snow day

There’s something about a snowy day that always gets me baking.

This time it was sticky buns.

cool weather cooking

I avoid my oven in the summertime; I don’t like how it heats up the house.
So by fall, I’m really hungry for all of the things I haven’t been cooking: bread and baked potatoes, pot roast and cinnamon buns.
I’ve made the switch now, and I’m enjoying the winter menu.
I also like how all it takes is a little bit of prep work . . .and the oven does the rest.

Pork Loin with Roasted Carrots and Potatoes

goodbye summer

I’m going to miss you, my little vegetable garden.

What I picked

What I ate: Pizza with Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes

summer eats

What I picked

Cherry Tomato and Green Bean Salad

What I ate

eating the garden

My garden is only 8 feet by 16 feet, but every summer is changes the way I eat.

What I picked

What I ate: Tomato Pie

loving the basil

My garden is giving me more basil than I can eat, but I know how to save all those delicious vitamins and antioxidants.

I make pesto, and I use it. I spread it on half a bagel and toast it. I use it as a sandwich spread (my favorite: chicken, roasted red peppers, and pesto).When I get tired of it, I freeze it for later.