Happy Jack’s
Friday, 3 July 2009
I get a happy feeling when I see the sign for Jack’s in Rapid River. I haven’t stopped since I can’t remember when, but we used to try to drop in about 10 am, when the pies were fresh out of the oven. Yum!
Musings
Blushing fruit
Monday, 15 June 2009
Contrast this pair with their May 9th scale.
Also, none of the other tomato plants I put in have any fruit this large. And none are blushing, either.
The cherry tomato has nice modest marble-sized-and-a-bit-more tomatoes, but the six Rutgers at this stage are all floppy plant with a few blossoms.
But first, I need to pick some herbs (sage, thyme, etc.) to go in the split pea soup I made over the weekend, and transform it into a fresh, summer version of what most people consider a winter dish….
99¢ at dim sum
Sunday, 14 June 2009
At dim sum today, which we decided is something like tapas in Chinese cuisine, we bought a new favorite iPhone app, the Ocarina (99¢). Somehow all the excitement of dining (thanks, J&R) and new-app buying did not distract me from the magic golden—and I’m sure lucky—pig in the display by the cash register.
Life in the deluxe lane
Monday, 8 June 2009
Yup, when there’s a basket of these fresh-picked from the garden on the kitchen table, and it’s starting to sprinkle after a dry spell, life is pretty darned good.
Locally, anyway.
Rhubarbing days
Thursday, 4 June 2009
The Botanist found this exceptional rhubarb somewhere and planted it here in the Northland, and it is as tasty as it looks. I promise, there’s no food coloring in this sauce—just rhubarb, sugar, and a little water. The red continues through the heart of the stalk most of the way up to the leaf, instead of just at the base, as with other rhubarbs I’ve examined.
Look, potential produce!
Saturday, 9 May 2009
As the wheel of the seasons turns, lemme note that there are wee ’maters on the “patio tomato” plant. The Botanist mentioned in passing that some tomatoes like to have the blooms tapped a bit to be, I guess, pollenated. I’ve been tapping gently. I guess it works. (I can say that in the absence of a control sample. harhar)
Of mysteries and rhubarb
Thursday, 7 May 2009
The mystery plant is back. Is it a jack-in-the-pulpit (briefly: JITP) or not? That’s the way I was leaning last year, but I’m not The Botanist. Note that last year it was at this stage almost a week later than this year. I perceive this as a slightly cooler, much wetter year than last year. Perhaps the more important variable is that the plant is returning this year, and so, as an established plant, is “ahead” of where it was on its first year.
Or not.
I’ve another mystery to comment on. In March, an SGA member asked: who made this brick? I did a simple Internet search and got some idea, but nothing like the whole story. The complex interwoven story is worth a read.
Okay. Now the rhubarb part. I love rhubarb sauce. I don’t think people grow rhubarb around here—possibly it’s too hot—so it’s a bit of a mystery to many Southerners, like my neighbor, an Alabama native. We went on a mission a while back to the State Farmers’ Market and didn’t even find a vendor who knew what it was (not a comprehensive search, however).
However, I recently did find a few stalks in another market, and picked the best specimens to make a rhubarb sauce. To be shared with my neighbor when she gets back from the coast…. Recipe here. It’s quite easy; no muss, no fuss. And yummy!
…and “my” horse lost
Sunday, 3 May 2009
(Yes, I know this is yesterday’s news. Tough.)
I won a Kentucky Derby hat contest! Well, many hats won; mine was a lesser prize. Still, I’ve never eaten a chocolate horse sculpture before!
Searching for rhubarb
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Today’s highlight was taking a long lunch and going to the State Farmers’ Market, a 150-acre installation south of town that’s also touted as the “World’s Largest Roadside Fruit and Vegetable Stand,” an excursion we shared with our neighbors.
We first lunched at the Oakwood Café on the premises. Once sated, we commenced our wander. Most of the stands (actually bigger than stands, if you ask me) that were open seemed to be attended by Mexican-American entrepreneurs, and I had great fun chatting with them. Two (guys) told me that I spoke very good Spanish! The only reponse is to say, “¡Usted, también!“*
I even saw guaje pods, which Wiki-Pee says are Leucaena leucocephala, “a mimosoid tropical tree.” These are not commonly seen on this side of the border; some people say that the name Oaxaca is derived from guaje (say gwah-hay). What fun!
Upon our return, we became immersed in a small financial morass, making this and that payment and deciding with the CPA to apply for an “automatic” extension of time to file (as we often do). Bleh.
BTW, no rhubarb. And no vendors who really knew what it is, either….
Extra points if you’ve read H. Allen Smith’s humor novel Rhubarb, about an orange-red cat who owned a baseball club (if I remember correctly)….
* It means “you, too!,” if you didn’t guess….
Budding sage
Sunday, 12 April 2009
I haven’t been paying attention. The herbs that I rescued last year from under The Tree mostly survived the winter in fine fettle. The sage is so nourished from the spring rains and recent warmth that it’s blooming—well, almost!
Title does not refer to me….