Friday, 18 July 2014
Tonight’s Mexican fare was a chicken vegetable soup. With poblanos and potatoes. And chunks of a zucchini-like squash, but lighter green. Thought about adding tomatillos, but didn’t.
With a squeeze of lime at the table.
Thursday, 17 July 2014
As has been explored already elsewhere on social media, we voyaged to the super-market (called a farmer’s market, but no farmers there unless they’re shopping, but it is very large, hence: super-market), and bought…Mexican ingredients.
I put the avocado into the lime juice (white bowl), then combined it into the salsa (left bowl). I made the radishes into a separate (simple) salad, sliced with salt and lime juice.
Made quesadillas with epazote and Oaxacan string cheese…served with a side of black beans.
The beans were yum-ized with epazote, garlic, onion, jalapeño, and poblano, then simmered for several hours.
Sunday, 13 July 2014
Some days I face this page and draw a blank. It’s not that I can’t remember what I did, it’s that it seems too mundane.
We DID dine at the Colonnade*, though. Guess that was pretty darned special. My first time.
Many people describe the Colonnade as a restaurant “that time forgot”—what I was first introduced to as a “meat and three” place—that is, three sides—with rolls and butter delivered right away. Now, they’re mostly like the Colonnade, and they’re “meat and two” places (in rural areas, the coffee/iced tea is usually included). Anyway, not sure if they’re checking to see if anyone is actually reading their website when they note: “The chef adds nighlty specials which may feature kangaroo, fresh fish, or a special twist on our southern features.” (Yes, that’s the spelling.)
That’s more southern than I usually think of as “southern fare”….
* Cash or check only; no credit cards. Soooo traditional.
Monday, 7 July 2014
Found a perfect ready-to-eat avocado today. Chopped up ’maters with the avocado chunks. Added lime juice and salt. Yum!
Thursday, 22 May 2014
Dad aka The Botanist had transplanted five rhubarb crowns up here, the deep red specimens he loved, commenting every time he picked them, “See how dark the stalks are!”
By last summer, however, the plants were looking peaked. Consultations with several people reached the same conclusion: they needed more light, fewer weeds to compete with, and a shot of nutrition.
Last fall, The Guru and I attacked all these problems. We cut down overhanging branches—more light. We removed the surrounding sod and covered the raw soil with newspapers*, weighted with rocks so they wouldn’t blow away—competition reduced (at least temporarily). And, courtesy of our friends at Spinner’s End Farm, added small shovelfuls of llama/sheep poo, designed by nature to take some years to break down—nutrition added!
So far, it looks like we’re on track for a full recovery of the rhubarb plants!
* A long-time practice of The Botanist.
Sunday, 11 May 2014
The Buckhead Whole Foods is far more upscale than “ours.” Look, they even have a pretzel-dipping station.
Sunday, 4 May 2014
If you were going to eat pastries flown in from seven* states away, wouldn’t you want them to be named Heaven?
Curiously, on their website the bakery categorizes these as “cookies” not as “pastries.” First ingredient: puff pastry!
* Estimated.
Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Ritual food behavior, judging from comparative studies, runs the gamut. As far as unleavened bread, around here, we just go with water crackers. No matzos. No hosts. Sometimes Triscuits (or Triscuit-like specimens).
Our crackers…are more sentimental than sacramental.
Friday, 18 April 2014
I often wonder how many person-hours were spent deliberating about the design of product labels. How many people said: do we really need the pitchfork—how many shoppers will even know what it is? And, what’s with the ball-cap? Plus: why is the milk yellow?
Enough musing—me, I particularly like the nostril-spirals.
Thursday, 17 April 2014
Miso soup bloom.
Two days in a row, I watched a cardinal* flit around in the mass of white azalea blooms next to the gaze-boh. Actually, maybe I missed it today because…I really wasn’t watching.
* We’ve had cardinals hang in the back yard (aka garden) in the spring as many springs back as I can remember. Can’t be the same pair….