I was in the mood to try something different this morning. I took a long look at my 4 perfectly ripe white peaches this morning. Hmmm….. Then I went outside to scope out the raspberries. The ripe ones were gone! Thieves! Rather than bake up a "regular" peach scone, I decided to try something new - how about using a scone as a shortcake? Not like they aren't related anyway……… I was inspired by the Vanilla Bean Biscuits from the … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2014
The Toggling Summer Gardener
image courtesy craftingzuzzy I've always liked the word "toggle". I've had a few toggle coats in my time. Funny though, how it's become so much more popular as a verb now-a-days……….. We toggle back and forth a lot, don't we? Merriam -Webster defines toggle, the verb as follows: to toggle: to switch between two options by pressing a single key - that seems very limited to me……... Funny how I don't really think of myself as a … [Read more...]
Forgetting What You Know; How EO Crawls into Your Heart
maybe it's the air Maybe it's just age……… Maybe, it's some kind of inertia. I know partly it is not wanting to leave my garden in NJ………. My recently adopted serious case of Euro-centric wanderlust has caused me a great deal of angst about where to spend my time. I have to admit that many a day I dream of being in Provence or Tuscany or anywhere in Italy or France. I have a great deal of readily identifiable organic "need" to be there … [Read more...]
Kitchen Tumbler – the concept; Critical Thinking and Parallels – Will, Whimsy and Instinct
- photo courtesy - ComposTumbler Compact Compost Tumbler I think the concept of Tumblr, or a tumbler, is fascinating. I don't want to step on anyone's toes here, so I'll stick to the generic use. I imagine a tumbler to be something akin to a 50-gallon-drum compost bin, suspended on a spit of sorts, which can be rotated at will or whimsy, or on a timed-basis and which, upon "finishing" presents something new and useful - and maybe even … [Read more...]
Into the Blog-“US”-Phere; A View from Inside the Revolution
the IBM Selectric - state of the art circa 1961 and 1971 How many blogs are out there now-a-days? Who knows? The transformation in communications modes, methodologies and their technologies in my lifetime is mind-boggling. For me, who remembers watching the funeral of JFK on a small portable tv with rabbit ears in my parents' bedroom and had to submit card decks in college to write a program, life has changed a lot. I was watching a … [Read more...]
Taking a Snapshot: It’s a Transient Life In the Garden
this "w"eek's "w"eather must have the local farmers "w"orried Yes, I've got my eye on the weather app - and have every day since Sunday…………. and right now we are experiencing what I guess you could call a deluge! :( "If you wake up and don't want to smile, If it takes just a little while, Open your eyes and look at the day, You'll see things in a different way. Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow, Don't stop, it'll soon be … [Read more...]
La Focaccina del Sirenuse (Lemon Verbena and Lavender Scones)
view from the terrace at Le Sirenuse - where the herb pots are I had a most lovely trip to Positano last May. It was intoxicating. During our stay we had a few lazy lunches on the terrace, enjoying the best grilled chicken breast ever (I kid you not) and the freshest tasting salads. Ryan fell in love with a particular Caprese Sandwich. Our meals there proved that old adage that the simplest of foods prepared in the hands of experts, are … [Read more...]
“Adora the Explora”; Channeling My Inner “Artist”
taken in my garden last July I don't take myself too seriously. You can tell this from my title. But, I do take the verb "to see" very seriously - as well as the question, "What's in your inner artist?" When my kids were little, Dora the Explorer was a popular tv show. Dora was a little girl who liked to explore……. If you have read this blog closely enough you have probably sensed two things: one is that this is a highly cathartic … [Read more...]
Grilled Chicken with Apple, Walnut, Carmelized Onion and Blue Cheese; Also for Peaches and Pears
Well, in between snapping what seems like a million pictures of my Peonies and emerging Roses over the past few days, I got fixated on Blue Cheese. The camera infatuation seems self-justifiable to me as I am trying to fill up my left-over extreme deprivation from Winter and what's shaping up to be a very short envelope between pleasantly warm temps/growing/and heat/humidity. I guess I am so gun-shy that I'm thinking the "nice" weeks of these … [Read more...]
Life’s Great Dilemmas
photo courtesy Angelina Paris I have developed perhaps the best worst habit in the world. Every morning I awake and search the internet for pictures of great pastries. I literally tempt myself into trouble before my brain is firing on all cylinders. With cup of coffee firmly in hand, I begin. This must be some oddity, or worse yet, flaw of human nature(mine)- the absolute (well, not really) of all great self-tempting impulses - a form … [Read more...]