Last night (Thursday), just before 9:00 … Bear and I were out for our last walkaround. A breeze in the top of the trees and everything else quiet: one of those moments that makes me still and aware, savoring everything: Bear with me, the beautiful night, the sound and feel of the woods and the moon – half way back to full.
As Summer wanes, I look forward to the day I can put away the multiple hoses and sprinklers AND put away the behemoth air conditioner!
I always feel like I am tempting fate…aka the weather gods/goddesses…
But today was the day.
That is the other thing. Although always in the back of my mind, there is suddenly a day when I decide and today was the day.
This morning…I decided…and I could not proceed with my work day until all was restored to what I consider normal.
A cool morning, gave way to a warm afternoon, that cooled quickly in the early evening. I’m counting on a continuance of that :) !!
Bob: Well, against all odds, all the herbs are still alive. And believe me, it is pure luck. The nursery person TOLD her, EMPHATICALLY!!!…that the parsley needed to be watered 4 times a day. A number of times it has just laid down and gasped its next to last breath before she got out here and watered.
Bob, cont’d.: It has been warm and even a bit hot and smoky. Fortunately she remembers to feed me better than she remembers to water the poor herbs.
Today, it got dark between my second breakfast and my elevenses and then it thundered and rained and got cool.
The darn dog is pretty happy about the cool.
Bear: Thank goodness for the air conditioner! And today it cooled off a little. I’m ready for snow!
This morning, as Bear and I walked, in Kalispell. Smoky, hazy, headed towards hot…but cool as we walked about 9:00 a.m. I like this a bit larger…dbl click to see it big.
The garden and all local produce is hitting its peak.
This week: peas, carrots, potatoes, parsley, basil, salad mix, head lettuce, beets, kale, chard and hiding from me…2 itty bitty zucchini found just in the nick of time. I shared quite a lot as I was still working on some pea pesto, carrots and chard from the week before.
The chard has been wonderful – tender, flavorful and I enjoyed it on sandwiches but especially on this savory version of a basil ricotta creme “pastry” – on the left…the creme topped with fresh tomato slices and a chard/onion saute. On the right, a pastry to save for breakfast: huckleberries!
I had huckleberry or cherry pastries several mornings – all made on the grill. It was mostly a bit warm to fire up the oven. As I am hoping for garden tomatoes and corn, it is a bit easier to take the heat. I pass the farm garden on my road and can see the corn and tomato plants. I think there are cucumbers in there also and I’m waiting. We’ve passed mid-August with the days getting shorter and the nights longer and cooler so it is a race to see if things have time to ripen before the first frost.
A lousy photo but I made two roast veg salads and only took this one photo. One salad with the red potatoes and one with beets. Both I added celery and onion and dressed lightly with a mayo/yogurt vinaigrette. I scarfed the potato salad forgetting to take a photo and only took this one of the beet salad…oops. Aside from the good roasted veg and the light dressing, the celery gave both a wonderful crunch and flavor. I added goat cheese and walnuts to the beet salad to make it a complete lunch.
Later in the week, the last of the kale needed to be used. Fresh kale, left to marinate for at least two hours in a vinaigrette, softens just enough to be crunchy but not tough. In fact, I’ve made a large kale salad and eaten from the bowl for 3 or 4 days. This salad, I used a lemon juice/garlic/vinegar mix, and topped with goat cheese, flathead lake sweet cherries and sunflower seeds.
So, those zucchini! They were hiding under some carrots. I found them late in the week and I was getting ready to make some baked sweet potato fries so cut up one of the squashes and threw it in with the sweet potato. A ranch dip made with yogurt, buttermilk and spices on the side.
Round 2 with the remaining zucchini, I added a coating of bread crumbs (from my broa bread), parmesan, salt and pepper. Same dip – another hit and another good week of cooking and eating from the garden.
And not to be forgotten…spearmint from my herb patch… and ice and white wine. All of this fresh green stuff…it is not bad :)!
I remember, some couple of years ago, Sara…my house/Bob sitter and then friend… after looking in my refrigeratior, commented: “Your refrigerator does not look like a single woman’s refrigerator!”
She was both reacting and teasing. And she is 18 years younger than I, so…different generational perspective.
Bottom line, I AM single, but my frig and pantry are very well stocked and I very much enjoy cooking a wide variety of food all for ME!
And I enjoy celebrating occasions with good food – good food to me. Which is not to say that if on any given “special day” – grilled cheese sounded good, grilled cheese would be my food to celebrate the day with :)!
But yesterday, for my birthday, I had a gorgeous ribeye thawed… The garden distribution provided cherry tomatoes and new red potatoes that I roasted, melted butter over and sprinkled with fresh rosemary…
…dinner.
A dark chocolate walnut brownie with scoops of hucklebery frozen yogurt and a bit of spearmint made for dessert.
The birthday dinner.