Musings

Dreaming about chocolate…

…what I had to eat instead was (Napa*) cabbage.

Savoy photo for illustrative purposes only.

Posted at 9:16 PM | 4 Comments »

Since the quake in Italy, I’ve been thinking about the namesake dish of Amatrice, a pasta dish much discussed and without a specific recipe. From what I’ve read, the old country version had meat and cheese added, and that’s it. Sometime later tomatoes became part of the dish, for some people. There’s discussion of onion, garlic, and other flavor bits.

The meat, apparently, was an aged, flavored, pork cheek, called guanciale. I could find no guanciale, and had bacon already in the fridge…so, bacon. Some say substitute pancetta…. I still liked my bacon….

As you can see, my recipe does not match either the ancient or the later versions. I also added onion (yellow not red), a bit of garlic (a la Batali).

So—tasty, and not traditional….

Posted at 8:32 PM | Comments Off on VERY tasty

Sending you a flower today, this time from a ginger plant. Lovely, subtle colors. Unknown function of the dangling parts.

Not sure why Tío Flaco is a good choice for a food brand. It means Uncle Skinny/Thin. Great colors, though….

Posted at 5:09 PM | Comments Off on Greens, of a sort

I’m not real keen on celebrating my own birthdays, but I’m happy to celebrate others’. Tonight was a classy 75th high-quality years. Gooooooo Lovely Linda! 💚

Posted at 10:28 PM | Comments Off on Cake/ice cream

I didn’t get the oregano buds cut off, so they are blooming and trying to attract pollinators.

The fennel, on the other hand, has moved past the blooming stage, and is curing its seeds.

Posted at 6:28 PM | Comments Off on Urban edibles

I get a little charge of excitement when I discover that what I have in the pantry and leftovers can be combined into a tasty (vs lame) menu, without additional shopping.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Small victory #3865119

Experimented. Maybe I’ve done this before, but it was aeons ago. The GrillMeisterSupreme™ did the heat portion of the operation (also veggies), then we all fell on the spread. Yum.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on A win

I didn’t stumble this morning (yawn!) when I made the switch back to our venerable drip coffee-maker from the northern coffee method, a French press.

Posted at 8:32 PM | Comments Off on Rolling with change

MaNachur is ripening the black raspberries—not the same as blackberries. My favorite. Thank you, the Botanist. And next to these canes are some newly planted foxgloves, rescued from this side of the road, resuscitated on the other side of the road by a far better gardener than I, and now returned to this side of the road. I think they may have originally been planted by my great-grandmother (or under an arrangement she made).

Day 2 of the two-day project: the workbench is assembled and all parts are functional (note the nifty built-in light!), and the drawers now hold some tools. The (back) porch is pretty darned clean and we are taaarrrred.

At this late hour, we have had a line of lightning-thunderstorms come through and now its all drippy out, although another cell may tease us before midnight.

Posted at 10:36 PM | Comments Off on Production results

This morning’s fog kept the sun from punching through until sometimes shortly after, maybe?, nine? Loved that it obscured the woods….

Foraged in the long grass for chives. I’ve been using them frequently…local farm-to-table produce, I guess….

Posted at 10:00 PM | 2 Comments »