Sunday: Land and Sky
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.
Cooking and eating from the garden
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 :)!
The birthday dinner
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.
57 years
Today I celebrated 57 years on this earth.
I am grateful for every day I’ve had and for all the things that have been and are now part of my life.
Thank you all for your well wishes.
It was a beautiful day.
and above all, have fun
August 15, my birthday eve day…a beautiful day.
Yesterday was hot, smoky, stuffy…a little miserable weather-wise. But overnight, a cold front whooshed through. And it rained. And the morning dawned cool, clear and fall-like.
Not only is today my birthday eve day but it is also the anniversary of Julia Child’s birth and this year is the 100th. Julia Child is a recent inspiration to me. I love and admire her fearlessness and passion for life.
“The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken. Bon appetit.”*
Bon appetit, indeed :) !!!
This evening, Bear, Bob and I shared a space of proximity that I thought might be impossible a year ago.
“Learn how to cook — try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and above all have fun.”*
Oh, yes.
*Julia Child
Another episode of Wild Kingdom
Despite my prior very poor batting average at identifying birds…and especially birds of prey…I believe this is a Cooper’s Hawk.
And, I have to credit Bob for seeing it at all :( !!
Bob was where you see him, but instead of looking at me, he was looking up – with GREAT intenseness. His tail was thwap-thawapping on the porch.
So I looked also – and saw the hawk. Hawk was my first thought but when I was looking at the photos and thinking about my past experiences, I wasn’t sure…young eagle???
I settled on Cooper’s Hawk as it fits other photos I found on the web AND the behavior fits as well. According to my reading, the Cooper’s Hawk is at home in the “forrest”, is an extraordinary flyer capable of darting among the trees in a dense wood. And they typically perch low. That was my other quandry…I had NEVER seen a hawk – in the woods – and as low as this bird at maybe 10 feet off the ground.
Earlier in the day, I had a somewhat terse conversation with God regarding the mice that have been frequenting my house in the night. Despite traps, despite Bob and Bear, despite me picking up every bit of tempting food…in they come, leaving their little poopie calling cards here, there and everywhere. (traps, Bob and Bear have dispatched a number of them, but in more of them come!!)
So…seeing the hawk, I gave thanks. God sent a hawk to help with the mice! But then I read that the Cooper’s Hawk hunts small birds…like chickadees and nuthatches… I have no quarrel with the little birds and would hate to think of them being hunted even though I also love the birds of prey and know everything has to eat… hmmm. Ultimately, I decided that it was not an issue that was mine to trouble over and the circle of life must go on.
Still earlier in the day – earlier than the hawk and mice but later than the moon and Venus…Bear and I were on the last leg of our morning perimeter walk when Bear alerted and ran toward the house but down on the game trail below the footpath that I walk.
A bear! A smallish bear, but not a cub and it stood quietly by a tree as Bear approached and then stopped. All was a standoff until Bear barked. The bear went up the tree, Bear rushed to the tree and stood on it barking. I was a little concerned as the tree was sounding a bit stressed…approximately 120 pounds of black bear went up a medium-smallish tree with a LOT of noise and branch breaking. I had visions of tree and bear toppling on to my Bear…I called and he came and headed straight for the front door and in the house.
Bear (the dog) was trembling with adrenalin and I was not far behind. I praised Bear, hugged him tightly (I’ve found this calms him … it doesn’t hurt me either!), removed his collar and got his normal treat.
He was not interested in the treat, but ran for the bedroom to watch…and to sniff. The windows were open.
That is not a smile…he is gulping scent. He gulped scent, barked, watched and stuck his nose up and sniffed. I stayed back and let him figure it all out. I am sure he now knows what a bear smells like and what a bear is. It was a good first experience for a ‘Jersey dog’ without western wilderness experience.
Later when we went out he was calm. We have had two outings…just like normal. Hoo rah Bear!