This summer I grew corn for the first time in my mini garden. Hooray! I was impatient, though, and picked one a little too early. This weekend, my husband Sam and I had the first two ears of mature corn, prepared on the grill. Ahhh! Next time maybe we’ll grill it in the husk.
It has been a week since my last garden update, and I am preparing to transport my more portable garden plants from my weekend home to my weekday home (where my husband’s new job is).
I have fallen behind…10 posts are missing from my post-a-day marathon. I am still hoping to double-post to catch up. I am even further behind on my blog-related email. Those of you who have stopped by this site and haven’t heard from me, here’s a big THANK YOU! I will be visiting your site before too long, I promise!
It’s nice to come home on the weekend and find veggies ready to pick! Thanks to my kind neighbor and the weather for the fact that I still have a garden to come home to!
These tomatoes are all Romas. But they have some interesting shapes and sizes. The squash is still producing. But I haven’t tried the coriander (AKA cilantro seeds) yet.
Yesterday I took my fresh, homemade pesto and added it to still-warm boiled potatoes. These potatoes were still a bit firm.
It was creamy and full of flavor, absolutely delicious served warm!
I have been wanting to make pesto the old-fashioned way, with a mortar and pestle. Today was the day to try out the marble tools that I inherited from my mom.
Yesterday, before I went to the market, I looked up pesto on Wikipedia. This article was interesting to read, because it not only provided the traditional ingredients and modern variations, but it also gave some history as well. I already had walnuts, a variation from pine nuts, and some basil from my garden. I had fresh garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. All I needed to pick up at the store was some Parmesan cheese.
I didn’t really measure things out. This was an experiment, to find out what proportions I prefer. Here goes:
Walnut Pesto
Crush one small clove of garlic and a large handful of shelled walnuts in a mortar, using a pestle. The traditional mortar is marble, and the traditional pestle is wooden, but both of my implements are marble.
Add several small or one large basil leaf, washed and dried.
Add about 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.
Incorporate all ingredients into a thick paste.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Store in an airtight container, covered with a layer of olive oil, up to one week. This can also be frozen.
Tomorrow, I will show you how I used my fresh pesto!
Sometimes it’s good to stop what you’re doing, sit down, and relax. When was the last time you sat on a swing? Think about it.
The view behind our cabin is amazing!
I want to paint a landscape soon, but I’m having trouble deciding where to start.
Maybe I should just take a chair outside, sit down, and see what happens…
I haven’t had much time lately to paint, so this morning I sketched out an idea that has been tumbling around in my brain for a while. Then I drew and painted!
I have a print of this work by Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian abstract Expressionist artist, which I very much enjoy. I have wanted to try something like it, and today I made my first attempt.
It’s a study for a larger piece. I did this drawing using a grid of six rectangles, which I erased. Then I sketched the figures seen here with a Tuscan Red Prismacolor pencil, based on my fuzzy memory of Kandinsky’s piece.
I can see that I need to loosen up a bit. My version is unique, but I hope it contains some of the elements of the master.
I love to watch flowers fade. The process is fascinating, and produces so many lovely and unique shades. The nasturtiums that I planted this year have almost finished blooming, and the heat of last week blanched the red ones into some beautiful pinks!
Here is the latest on what’s growing – a couple of awesome squashes, and RED ripe tomatoes!
We drove home for the weekend yesterday, and were greeted by rosy red tomatoes. Can’t wait to taste them.
This zucchini was on the menu for dinner tonight-it was yummy steamed with some fresh parsley.
This yellow squash looks like a gourd! I’m wondering what’s inside…
The view from our new place looks to the west. We are on a hill, so it is the perfect place for a sky watcher such as myself.
The clouds were building over the Sacramento Valley this morning, and it was quite a sight!
When You're Bored 