Harvesting Dinner

Last night I had the distinct pleasure of harvesting my dinner. What fun. I have never seen basil so big and so green, even though I grew it for years. There were several beans to go along with it.





I put the shredded Parmesan on the plate, put the cooked buckwheat noodles on top, let the cooking water (buckwheat noodles take little water)reduce with the olive oil, basil and garlic to make a little sauce and it was delicious. Could have used tomato or sweet pepper for color. Next time.

This is inspiring me to grow more garden! It is so much fun to be self-reliant, to have absolutely fresh food and to use what is on hand. Now I think I want to try making my own yogurt for the yogurt cheese maker for this would be a yummy variation on the Parmesan. Yogurt cheese with chopped basil and garlic would also be good.

What can I make for myself today? Hmmm. More basil.

The new toy that I bought from my niece's Pampered Chef business (see link to the right) is not a toy, but an excellent tool. It is the garlic press, the best one that I have ever owned. It presses the clove through the skin so peeling is not necessary. It comes with a cute and clever little tool that presses the residue back up into the press to clean it. No poking with a toothpick to get all the garlic out. I love it and will be pressing garlic frequently now. Yum

So this morning I am grateful and happy.

Saturday Blessings

Today's weather has been a blessing--summer at its absolute best! If it would just stay like this, I don't think many people would mind.

As I write I am looking out at my porch, the bag of potting soil under the potting bench, the basil plants in their pots on the top of it, tall enough now to begin forming a privacy screen between my half gate and my screen door. The rose bush that was looking most scraggly and shabby has come back beautifully in a bigger pot, fresh soil and a little shade. It is blooming prettily with pink roses.

The Mr. Lincoln is rapidly outgrowing its pot and will have to have a new one. (I think this is something like kids with school shoes. Every time you turn around they need new ones.) It is reaching toward the sky too and if each of the six buds it currently has mature, I will have six more magnificent and fragrant roses. M chose well when she picked this out for me last year.

The economic news this evening and yesterday has been so scary that I just cried and changed the channel to the weather channel. I can't believe the egregious stupidity and greed that went into making this mess and how much we are all going to suffer before it is over. Regulation and stability would make so much more sense.

On a lighter note I have added another goodie to my ultimate gadget wish list. Remote control for my bedroom drapes and I think it is within reach of my budget! Yippie skippie as my Mary Kay director says.

Over all I am grateful.

More Gadgets and Gizmos

The heat should abate today and just about everyone in the area is talking about it. How to cool the house more effectively? Today my neighborhood email list had a marvelous post from the President of our Neighborhood Association detailing all the various kinds of air-conditioning. There are many choices short of the costly solution of full air.

I am thinking about a ceiling fan or a roof exhaust fan to pull the hot air out of the house. Basically, if I can gain a few degrees I can stop fearing the heat exhaustion that inevitably sets in after several days of this. Ideally I would like something solar powered to make it not dependent on the power grid.

More fans are definitely in the offing. The ones that are small personal fans that run on batteries have struck me in the past as toys. Still they would be a back-up in case of a power outage.

The most decidedly low-tech cooling solution is dousing my hair in cold water in the morning. Personal evaporative cooling, stays with me in any room of my house. In addition, a long piece of discarded t-shirt fabric wrung out in cold water is draped around my neck.

Now if I could figure out a way to cool the computer!

More when the weather is cooler. I am grateful that I am surviving and that the fog is on the way!

Gadgets and Gizmos

The day went by quickly yesterday even though it was so hot. Today it will be hotter. A friend has lent me a spray mister that has a small, but powerful and effective fan for trial use. (I think I am going to buy one.) When I first saw it, I thought it looked kind of weird and awkward. It is an absolute Godsend. Everyone should have one. It is low tech, doesn't require electricity--survival in case of a power outage and is portable.

Right now at around 8:00 am it is cooler outside by five degrees than it is inside. Cool air is blowing in on me thanks to one of three box fans of varying age that I have in the house. These are fairly low tech too, actually. Faithful and simple in design they plug along year after year. Of course, they don't get used all year round. It doesn't feel like it could possibly become as hot as it is slated to be, but it will, so I need to run around the house closing windows behind me as I go. (Image a slightly elderly lady wheeling around her house wielding a cane. No she is not bats, nor is she chasing anything, the cane allows her to reach her window cranks and open and close, close and open. Tedious, but low tech, adaptable and effective.)

The "new" --nearly ten years old now, but I still think of it as new--furnace came with a programmable thermostat. I am tempted to put a piece of tape over the display. Do I really want to know how hot it is at the end of the day? Won't make me any cooler, but I can't resist looking at it.

My last gadget for this post is a lovely absolutely darling, kitchen toy er tool that scoops cookie dough in just perfect balls to plop on the baking sheet. It is a Pampered Chef goodie and may be ordered by clicking on the link to the right that goes to my niece, Jennifer Knapp's Pampered Chef site. (Shameless plug over.)

Yogurt Cheese

So far I have eaten it plain on a cracker, plain on strawberries and mushed with peanut butter or avocado on wonderful dense European style bread from Trader Joe's. It is my newest delight and my newest obsession.

For years I have wanted to buy a yogurt cheese maker and after eating delicious things from Bolani and Sauce, a business that sells at local Farmer's markets, I finally broke down and bought one. It is simplicity itself. Put the yogurt in, put the lid on, place in fridge and the next day--yogurt cheese. What to do with the whey will be next.

I will try to remember to post about Bolani and Sauce tomorrow.