How Doth Your Garden Grow

The recent rains have made the garden explode, and now that the hot weather is here,  it's even lusher than ever.   The baddest news is that my hummingbirds have disappeared.  Where can they have gone?  No one has visited the feeder or perched on the trellis for a week or more.  Have to admit that I am distraught.

Meanwhile, on the suet feeder, scads of baby woodpeckers, chipmunks and the little red squirrel are gobbling up a dollar's worth of suet every day or two.  Greedy ones.

The clematis has been spectacular.  Maybe because I actually dosed everything with fertilizer this year.   

Here is the sneaky squirrel.  So cute.

The verbena, nasturtiums, sage, and marigolds are all doing well.  Chives went rampant this spring.  Garlic has long whatcha-ma-callums.  Can't think of the name.  Scapes!  That's it.  I planted nicotania instead of impatiens this year, and it looks good, but still no hummingbirds, sob!

How is your garden doing?  Don't forget to put out water for the critters as well as food.

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Next Food Network Star

The garden, lush and colorful. The bag of impatiens has been particularly good this year, and the geraniums are loaded with blooms. The red nasturtiums have also been fine. The tiny hummingbird visited the new feeder and also the purple sage (not visible) where he went up and down the blooms. The blasted ants just won't leave the feeder alone.

My small guest watched the Next Food Network Star with me and we didn't think Melissa had a chance but she suprised us. Last night I tried her four step dinner plan: bread the meat and saute, add aromatics, add liquid, return meat, swirl in butter and serve. I had some chicken tenders and I used an egg then panko for the breading. Sauteed in half-butter, half-canola oil, the yin and yang if you will. When the chicken was cooked, I put it in a warm oven and added 4 split green onions to the pan, 2 big cloves of garlic, slivered, and 2 home grown plum tomatoes, sliced. Added white wine to get up all the "fond," then returned the chicken to the pan and swirled in the butter. We ate it on a bed of microwaved spinach. Yum! I just used the ingredients on hand, which was Melissa's plan, too. It really works. Would have never thought of serving on the spinach, but we are in light-diet mode, and carbs are carefully chosen.

Tonight, I'm making shrimp with tomatoes, olives, herbs and feta. Another low-carb affair. We have discovered that grissini, thin breadsticks, have few carbs and calories. A salad will round out the meal. We're doing either soup, salad or diet fare the rest of the month. I'll report in on how much weight, if any, was lost.

The plum tomatoes appear to have avoided the blight, as have the cherry and some in a pot on the other side of the house.

The herbs are in full swing, and I need to replant cilantro and dill. We love cucumbers in dill and cilantro in anything. Thinking some tortilla soup would go down easily. Bon appetit.

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The tomato blight

Sigh! This was the year that I would have tomato soup, tomato bread salad, home made salsa, gazpacho, tomatoes provencal. Well, you know.

Instead we had 6 weeks of rain and now the blight. I still have three plants in pots, but the tomato plants in the garden have been destroyed. The best laid plans of mice and men, but I don't think mice actually make too many plans. What they make is nests in the garage. Even in the doll house. Bad mousie!

The last houseguest left today, and except for a mountain of laundry, yea, veritable alps of laundry, we're all set. I've been away from my book for so long that I printed it out to read and discover what I had actually written. So far, I am impressed with the beginning. Did I actually write that? Not bad.

The papers have had stories about information warfare and I always wonder if it really happened, then would The Shadow Warriors take off? Who knows?

I watched the finals of The Next Food Network Star, and like both finalists, even tried the winners 4 step dinner plan tonight and it was a winner, too. Of course, after the pasta and the ice cream and all the meals out, we will have to go into serious diet mode. Summer salads beckon. Hey, it can't be THAT BAD. Well, can it?

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Tortilla Soup

Since we are trolling for recipes that say, "take 4 ripe tomatoes. . . . ." I thought of my old tortilla soup recipe which I have served to countless Europeans who have all thought it excellent.

I found a similiar recipe on the web, just change the canned tomatoes to 4 ripe tomatoes and you're in business. Don't cheat and skip the cilantro. We love all the toppings. We love sitting with a box of Kleenex on the table because I left part of the pith and seeds in the jalapeno.

Live bravely. Soup is good food.

The world's best torilla soup is at the Stanford Court Hotel (see Blog photo) in San Francisco, but it's big time cheaper to eat this recipe. On the other hand, the Stanford Court is a lovely spot to eat lunch, and if you have some ready cash or credit, why not treat yourself to a bowl of this heavenly soup?

Enjoy. http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/002087tortilla_soup.php

Ratatouille

We are eagerly seeking out recipes that begin, "take 2.5 pounds of tomatoes, and . . . " Ratatouille is a great side, because the recipe calls for all the veggies that are in season in your garden or at the farm stand. I made a big pot this week and it was delicioso. Muy.

Tomtoes from your garden are best. We also had green pepper and basil. Oh, it was lovely. Julie Child has a great recipe, but it is a pain to make. Use lots of garlic and olive oil. A spoonful or two of capers add interest.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/RATATOUILLE-108350

Epicurious will not lead you wrong.

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Pretty Good Pizza

The cold, half-eaten pizza is displayed, but not without a certain yumminess.


If you read the blog regularly, you may recall that I am not the greatest fan of pizza, at least the general greasy cheese variety. And no matter what, I don't ever want to eat it more than once every two weeks, so this puts me at odds with our society, but hey, alienation is nothing new.

I do, however, like my own pizza. Wouldn't you know? How is it different?

I buy the crust at the grocery store, either frozen or at the bread counter. A ball of yeast dough. Then, I scour what's in the house. Right now, we have a feast period.

Garlic, olive oil, home grown tomatoes, basil, sage, onion, red and green peppers, arugula.

Zowie! I bought some grated mozzarella. Yikes, the price of cheese has skyrocketed. Also bought some pepperoni. The quantities of pepperoni they force you to buy is absurd. This will yield about 6 pizzas. But it keeps. I also bought a small stalk of broccolli. Are you getting the idea? Veggies to the max.

A layer of garlic oil, a sprinkle of cheese, tomatoes and veggies, pepperoni, more cheese, and topped with parmesan flakes. Oh yum! Into a 500 degree oven until the crust is brown. Leave off the pepperoni and you have a wonderful vegetarian pizza.

Makes us two meals, because the topping is so generous. Love those hot melting tomatoes. Yum, yum, yum.

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Late Summer Meals

Tomato Bread Salad!

At right, tomato harvest ripens, and tonight we are eating tomato bread salad. Made with big homemade croutons, olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh mozzarella, ripe, home-grown tomatoes (yowza!) fresh basil from said garden, some organic baby spinach and red onion. A vegetarian treat. Create your own proportions, with tomatoes the star of the show.

We're keeping the salad theme throughout, with a fruit salad of banana, nectarine, figs and oranges. Mega yum!

I harvested the young beets and we'll eat the beets and their greens separately. I love to pop a few cherry tomatoes into my mouth while I'm working in the garden. It's not really work, it's joy.

First Tomatoes and Insalata Caprese

In our own little garden plot, planted and maintained by us, we had two tomatoes ripen this week, medium size, not cherry. The basil is also coming into its own. Time for Insalta Caprese.

Insalata Caprses is one of the most delicious and simplist things you can make. Hey, even a kid can do this. Recipe:

Pick however many tomatoes you need, from one to four. Pick some fresh basil. Carry your produce into the house.

Here you will need a cutting board and a platter. Get out the EVOO, salt and pepper grinder. From the fridge, get out a nice ball of fresh mozzarella. Slice the tomatoes thinly and put on a platter. For each tomato slice, cut an equally thin slice of mozzarella. Cheese goes on tomatoes. Chop up the basil and sprinkle on the cheese/tomato slices. Salt (judiciously) and pepper, a few grinds. Drizzle the platter with EVOO.

Carry this into the dining room and use nice utensils and put out some decent bread. Sop up the tomato and EVOO juices with the bread. A glass of crisp white wine will make the experience even better.

This is so simple that you need to use the best tomatoes, basil, cheese, EVOO and the pepper has to be freshly ground.

It's a fantastic summer luncheon.

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