Venison Ambassador

First Salad of the Season!

Lettuce 2012 has sprung! I picked my first volunteer crop of lettuce & will be enjoying it with tonight's dinner.

First Bed of the Season

This past Sunday, March 18th (June 18th if you based it on the temp, but never mind.) Jeff & I finally made it out to clean out a bed and tuck in some future goodies. We planted broccoli, lettuces, radishes & beets. To avoid a repeat of last year's "Echo disaster" we rolled chicken wire over the bed to prevent Echo from joyfully rearranging our seeds. (Last year my beloved cat, you probably notice I didn't say "our" beloved cat, kicked her happy little paws - and the seed all over the bed.)

Seeds on Order

I did it! Finally the end of school is close enough that I can imagine the wonders of not having my nose in a book in the frantic way of studying while working! I ordered tomato seeds, pepper seeds and 12 varieties of herb seeds - all for the indoor garden! As soon as they arrive I'm cranking up the seed mat and planning meals around the homegrown yumminess!!

Salsa ("People just like saying Salsa!")

Homemade salsa - I did it! I made salsa for the first time and it is YUMMY!!! Jeff even said if he were served it in a Mexican restaurant he would notice how good it is! Yea!!! Tonight we had Mexican Pie out of our new cookbook - wow! It used my salsa and of course, venison - delicious!

Me vs The Tomato

The meandering cherry tomato tolerates my attempts to tie him down, trim him back and generally control his chaos. We both know the futility of my actions. In one overnight move he stretches skyward toward the Sun - oh, the Sun! More tiny balls of delightfully sweet tomatoes are ripe - his appeasing gift designed to remind me that his freedom and desire to sprawl are paramount and the only way to an incalculable harvest of red, orange and yellow orbs too tasty for mere words. The tomato is Victor!

Dill Pickles!

It's official - you are now reading the words of a bona fide pickle co-maker!!! Last night Jeff & I tasted our pickles - imagine this - they taste like "real" pickles! We are going to have to get on the fast track to eating them because now I want to make Bread & Butter pickles.

What a great way to use up the wildly prolific Cuke!

(Due to space constraints we have to down at least a jar and a half before I start the new batch-these are the refrigerator type, so they must fit.)

 

Pickles?

We bravely entered a new world last night. Yes, our kitchen has vinegar scent (I know, I know, call it whatever you want, vinegar is still a smell, not a scent.) We have the proof of our late evening project safely upside down in the fridge. Why upside down? Because part of the learning curve (apparently) is learning that it only makes 4 jars if you are a fantastic judge of the amount of cucumbers needed for 4 jars. We did weigh them, but somehow still found ourselves short. So, we condensed the whole project into 3 jars and they spent the night right-side up and are now spending the day upside down, because we are tasting our project tonight. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll let you know on the yumminess scale where we wind up.....

Curiosity vs Water Avoidance - the Echo Conundrum

Echo (kitty cat) is in while I type yet another school paper, helping out by combatting the inescapable loneliness of endless homework at the end of the workday and week. When I head to the kitchen for tea, her eternally optimistic self follows me with a series of meows intended to help me remember that she alone is willing to sleep by my desk while I type. (There must be a yummy treat, right???)

She is so insistent on her desire for the clinking ice cubes in my glass that I provide one in her water bowl. First, she is somewhat suspicious. Is there something in my bowl that shouldn't be there? Followed by - Fun, there is something to play with in my bowl! Next, to really play with this great new whatever, I'll need to fish it out. So, in defiance of generations of proudly dry cats everywhere, she inserts paw and extracts ice cube. Now that it is rapidly melting all over the floor, she has the extreme fun of seeing how much water can be slung over the length of the living room floor. Its inherent wetness seems to be part of the charm, allowing her to flick her soaked paw in any direction she deems fit. Once the floor is sufficiently wet and paw-printed she settles back in, legendary curiosity 1, willingness to avoid water at all costs, 0.

The garden is gung ho right now. The tomatoes have lots of little green tomatoes, the peppers have peppers on, the squash, and the eggplants all have miniature unripe goodies hanging from them.

Greens

We went to a family gathering yesterday and got to bring our own salad greens! They were so yummy and pretty, too!