Seductive Behavior

Ah the recipe.  It beckons from the pages of a magazine or the folds of a newspaper.  It sits idly in a cookbook, marked but long forgotten.

Beguiling, seductive behavior is common with a recipe.  You can't trust them.  They look good on the surface, but then you get involved with them and BAM!  there it is, something that just doesn't make sense.  something that throws the whole relationship off.  You should have seen it, but you were seduced by the sound of the title--the beautiful picture.  That is the editor doing their job.  seducing you, letting you think you can make this, you should make this, or you will miss out on the best thing you could have ever had. 

You know it in the back of your mind--this incompatibility-but you pursue it anyway.  but it always rears it's ugly head. Oh yes I forgot which topic I was discussing. Back to recipes.

Recipes are more of a suggestion than an obligation for me.  I see them, like the sounds of them, then start to make them and think "this won't taste good--I need to change it".  And so the process begins.  Or more to the point,  "the Project".  Each recipe becomes a project in enhancement.  I just can't leave well enough alone.  Of course well enough is usually, well, not well enough.

Different people approach recipes in different ways and i think they are an indication of how they approach everything in life.  Some people are afraid to try, others must follow things to the exact teaspoon, others have  no regard for the concept and act irreverently thinking they have a better idea than the recipe's originator.  Others accept that the recipe is the way it is--OK, but not great.  But some can see the potential of a good recipe that with just a few tweaks could be perfect....yes, that's me.  And everything I do is like that.  Think about your behavior towards the seductive recipe.  What type are you? Here's to betting it's just like everything else you do.  Amusing isn't it?  this little bit of psychology from the lowly recipe.

Today's new recipes:
Quinoa Salad.   added a tablespoon of peanut butter.  Made the whole thing much more complex and exciting.

Farro salad: added a little honey, a little garlic and fresh chopped Cilantro.  Smoothed out the rough edges

See what I mean?   You too can make a difference in the life of a recipes.  Just try. :)

Go ahead, make a change.  You'll be glad you did.

BTW, I know I should be posting gardening items, but it has been dreadful this last week with rain and cold.  So as soon as the weather clears I'll be talking dirty- from the yard work of course.. 

Lett uce peas not have a hard frost in April!

I have succumbed. It's official. all the seed is in the ground. Zinnia's, cosmos', cleome's, snap peas, hollyhock, larkspur and catmint. Today: lettuce. I tried to resist, but this weather is too much of a tease and they tell me that it doesn't look like any sort of hard freeze is on the way. Lettuce and Peas both like it cold anyway. As a matter of fact, my arugula continued to grow through the whole winter! I took a picture of it while tearing down the chicken wire over the tulips. Then, thinking I would be throwing it all away, I tore half of it up. Just for yucks I tasted some of it. This was not last years lettuce! The seed I had thrown in the ground last fall had grown through the winter and grew a whole new bed of lettuce. This arugula is soft, peppery and delicious! Totally amazing that it grew through the winter with no protection. New seeds are going in today though for red leaf and butter, and of course more arugula. The pile of arugula just waiting to be washed looked so inviting with that beautiful sun coming in the window. How often do we get a picture like that in the middle of March in New England? That Chicken wire is a whole other story. Never let a man squirrel proof your tulips. They hate squirrels. It took two hours of cutting chicken wire and pulling out industrial size staples to free my emerging tulips form the grips of this nasty chicken wire. I think he thought the squirrels were directly related to Godzilla! Next year I set up the chicken wire. Although it did have the intended effect. The squirrels were unable to get to the tulip bulbs for late evening snacks. It looks like all of the bulbs are still there and coming up.

Do we Dare?????

Who can believe this weather??? 70's and 80's in March for most of the month. insanity! But do we dare plant the seeds of summer and hope that mother nature does not return the act with mocking gestures of sustained freeze and early spring blizzards?

Hardened New Englander's have learned not to trust the tease of an early warm spell. But even we are being suckered in by this ridiculous weather. Well at least I am being suckered.

Today I planted 40 perennials. Now those of you who have seen my garden will say:

"where the heck is she going to put 40 more plants!". but the fact of the matter is, I will probably plant over 100 new perennials this year as well as lots of annual seed in the ground for all year annual color and filler.

How can this be? Well think of your garden as changing over every three to four weeks and you quickly see why 100 plants can disappear into the landscape in a flash. You really need 5 gardens a year to have a spectacular display from April 15th to Nov 15th. After eight years I am still planting and still working on this.

Of course the other issue is that perennial does not mean forever. Many perennials only live two or three years. Others, like peonies, roses and wisteria, can live for 100 years. But sadly, most do not. So in addition to planting for each garden interval, you also need to replace short lived perennials.

The most economical way to do this is to mail order bare root or small plants. They will be small for a couple of years but then just when you need them to start taking over they are large enough to make a difference in the garden.

If you don't preplan, you will find yourself running to the local nursery or big box store to fill holes and bare spots. This will lead to spending 10 x's what you would have spent if you had just thought ahead a little.

Seeds are another wonderful money saver, and so easy! I don't bother with all that indoor sowing nonsense. Takes way too much time and effort for not much different results. An alternative is to sow seed in early April. Seed will be fine even if there is frost and snow. Your plants will emerge about a month later than if you planted them indoors, however they will be stronger and grow faster because they were not transplanted. I have done this successfully for several years now.

Annual seeds that respond well to early sowing and fast growth are: Zinnias, Cosmos and Cleome.

Last year my zinnias and cosmos carried the garden into December and were just stunning. Those zinnias are just such complicated little beings. I have attached a photo from last years seeds. The Zinnias are the bright little flowers on the wall. The Cosmos and the Zinnias were the last blooming flowers in the garden.

Just buy some seed at your local hardware store or mail order it if you want (I mail order because i like to pick unique varieties. there must be 500 types of zinnias), lightly brush some soil away where you want them to grow, throw in a few seeds per square foot area and brush the dirt back on top. Water and you're done. How simple was that???!!!

Power of the Pantry

Yes, it has been way too long since I have posted to this blog. but I am coming out of my self induced hiatus and hope to post continuously again. It's not that I haven't been cooking....I have! but it has been too much with the schedule to actually get to the site and post. With spring around the corner and all of us coming out of our winter hibernation I say "VIVA LA POST!"

So as my first post I will share something very humorous that may make my Diva followers gasp. But it is a good example of ingenuity when you're in a pickle.

A few weeks ago I was in Killington Vermont staying with a very good friend at her ski house. By 8pm everyone but me was smashed and they all poured into the ski house looking for dinner. What ensued was quite amusing. a bunch of drunk people trying to make dinner for a party of about 30. SO I shooed everyone out of the kitchen and went to work.

resources were limited. One of the key pieces of the meal was pasta with red sauce. But as anyone who follows the blog knows, red sauce does NOT come out of a jar! Fortunately I had brought some home made pesto for what i thought was going to be breakfast--but hey, why not dinner instead.

Susan had onions, fresh basil and garlic and canned diced tomatoes. I put in the homemade pesto and cooked bacon. IT was good-but lacked zing. It needed to be "bound" together. First I searched for half and half or cream or cream cheese. Nothing. then I searched the pantry for evaporated milk. nothing. UGH-what is a girl to do???

then, I spotted it-a can of creamy french onion dip! I poured the whole can in the tomato sauce and Viola! it turned it into a lovely pink sauce immediately. it was delicious. Everyone wanted to know what the secret ingredient was. How amusing is that. French onion dip. Now you know...never under estimate the power of the pantry.
Did I tell you they were drunk :).

Mano-a- Mano with Edward Scissorhands

OK-me and this little guy are going to come to terms. I haven't bought a shotgun or anything like that-but he is seriously testing my Cambridge "all creatures have a place on this earth" mentality.

I was fine when the local bunny ate all my strawberries--a minor inconvenience. and I have been OK with the squirrels lifting my expensive tuberous begonia bulbs to toss around the yard.

But Edward scissorhands and I are doing serious battle. I feel him mocking me from the bushes every morning as he sees me cursing him as I replace all the divots one by one. slowly watching the grass die as he does his thing every night.

I was unsure what type of creature was taking a can opener to my lawn every night. However my friend Ellen informed me that it is a skunk. So one must approach with caution.

I have tried killing the grubs so his food supply is cut out-but he just waits it out till they come back and then he starts again.

Every morning I go out to get the paper and there it is-massive destruction-grass clumps thrown eveyrwhere-but with intense precision at the root line.

I feel his eyes on me as I scream in the air "EDWARD!". I assume he has gotten used to his name. Maybe I should have little t-shirts made for he and all his little skunk friends

"You Grow it and Mow it, We throw it ".

I am planning my revenge as we speak.

What a meat market!

OK OK-so it's not the type of meat market I am used to where scantily clad women and leering men provide the visual entertainment. It was however a real visual experience.

Fish heads, Tongue, Chickens and rabbits oh my!

As promised, these are the meat pictures from the Paris market. They are gross to us-but really, what a tribute to the animal. I remember my grandmother slaughtering her own chickens and using every bit of that chicken. Here we throw out 1/2 of the usable animal because we don't like thinking about the reality of eating an animal.

I say if you slaughter it-use it! I try to use as much of an animal as possible-being one of those "gross" people that likes to cook the neck and innards and has been known to eat tongue, pickled pigs feet and any other number of things that gross out the masses of American consumers. How sad. Not only are these cuts delicious and nutritious--but they are also a better way to respect the animal. Oh well-I doubt I will ever win that battle-but hopefully I have given you something to think about and one day you may try to use more of the animal than just those parts nicely cellophaned in the grocery store.

Enjoy the pictures. I took some of them through the glass cases so I notice there are some reflections....but you get the idea.

Bouffe tout c'il vous plait!

Miscommunication

Before the Paris meat market post- I would like to relay a small food funny that happened this weekend with my girlfriends on the cape.

Being the dutiful Diva that I am , I made some really nice healthy vegetable salads for us to all enjoy over the weekend.

Joanne had us all at her house: Charlene, Allyson, Sarah and me.

So we are sitting around and Allyson is half listening to the conversation as she was not feeling that well. Charlene is asking me about the salads and what is in them.

At one point I keep saying "Kohlrabi". Everyone was kind of looking at me like I was strange and kept asking the same question. And I kept answering "Kohlrabi".

Finally Allyson says-"why do you want me to call Rob and why do you keep calling him Robby???"

After a good laugh I spelled out Kohlrabi and explained it is an Asian vegetable used much like a daikon radish-but milder.

Then later that day we were all at job lot and low and behold-they had Kohlrabi seeds. Everyone was relived to know I had not lost my mind (well at least not pertaining to that!).

So sometimes what seems so obvious to one person is clearly sounding like something else to someone else. Sort of make you wonder how often we think we know what people are saying-but really have no idea. :).

By the way, the salad was fabulous.

peeled grated Kohlrabi

peeled grated carrots

one lemon-juiced and zested

Chinese black vinegar

grated ginger

grape seed or canola oil (about twice the amount of vinegar you use)

minced garlic

toasted sesame seeds toasted

Cashews chopped

hint of hot pepper(Cayenne)

salt to taste

mix lemon juice, zest,oil, vinegar, ginger and garlic together. Pour over grated veggies. toss with cashews sesame seeds and salt.

Let sit for about an hour.

Awesome!!

This Little Piggy Went to Market

Its been two years since I've been to Paris, But because of my acute sensitivity to food--I haven't forgotten a thing! As usual-Paris does not disappoint.

My sister joined me on this trip for her first visit to Paris in 47 years.. Since we both have the same childhood memories of food it was easy to spend most of the trip eating and reminiscing.

In one little pastry shop in Montparnasse (which we traveled to by metro specifically) we bought 5 pastries and ate them for breakfast/lunch. YUMMY!!!! One was this delectable puff type pastry that had been caramelized with a slightly perhaps lemony flavor-but nothing that would override the incredible butter taste that had permeated the entire roll. Another was an almond egg/cream type mixture that delighted with texture differences between the crackly pastry layers, the nutty soft but not gushy filling, and the sliced almonds on top. Spectacular. We looked everywhere for the caramelized butter pastry but never found it again. This is why I travel to that little shop.

We went to Angelina's, frequently. It is one of Paris's premier pastry shops. We were fortunate enough that it was two blocks from our hotel and our hotel room faced the entrance. I say fortunate because the lines start early and stay for most of the day. We could look out the window and see if there was no line and quickly scoot down to buy some delectable little morsel to munch on. After all-wouldn't want to get faint from lack of pastry for a couple of hours!

I had not been to the Paris markets in quite some time. Usually when I am in Paris the person with me is more interested in Notre dame and the Eiffel Tower than in pain au chocolat and beignet's. So I was delighted to spend time pursuing the markets and looking at food with someone who also remembered it as I did--delicious beyond compare, real and beautiful.

It is difficult to describe the french connection to food and their respect for everything that they put in their mouth. But a trip to the market or a walk along the street where there are food markets will tell the story.

Their vegetables are huge and beautiful and REAL. I bought 1/2 lb of strawberries and was amazed and delighted at their flavor and texture. Not even straight from the farmers market at home do they taste like this. Their produce and street food is never cheap or manufactured.

The white asparagus is a common fixture at all the markets. It is about an inch in diameter and absolutely gorgeous. The fennel heads are the size of grapefruits and the cauliflower is the size of a basketball.. everything is in perfect condition and beautifully ripe.

The French buy their food almost every day so they would not tolerate under ripe produce sitting in the store for a week or more just ripening or rotting. Because the food delivery system in the US must accommodate 300 million people it will be vastly different than if we were the size of Texas.

Nonetheless, the difference is astonishing and one could only hope to have the same quality at home. But I doubt we will ever see that. Even at the farmers markets in the US the food quality is not as good as in France. Our farming methods, soil and climate do not produce the same quality produce. And our standards, due to years of indifference and lack of quality, are much lower.

Our one disappointment was that as little girls we regaled on what we called Beignet's. They looked like dunkin donuts munchkins-but the taste, texture and smell are vastly different. We walked the market but could only find beignet's that looked like American donuts that were filled with apple and creme and other things. Not what we were looking for-- so we didn't taste them. Sadly, we never found our memory of a beignet. Although we are told by the locals they do still exist. But not to despair-we were able to buy several pastries and eat all of them as we strolled the food orgy before us.

I have taken some pictures of the produce and as you can see I am not lying (however since all the produce is out sized it is difficult to see in the pictures the magnitude of their beauty and size--take my word for it-HUGE!).

Be prepared for the next blog entry which will have some graphic pictures of real meat that you may feel "grossed out" by. However once again-their respect for the food and the animal is paramount. If you are going to eat chicken, or pork or rabbit-or whatever it is--you should know where it comes from, what it looks like outside the little cellophane wrapper at the grocery store, and you should have respect for its life and use all possible parts--enjoy the vegetable shots and prepare yourself for the others....

Oh, and sorry about no pastry shots from the little pastry shop in Montparnasse. We were so busy stuffing them in our little mouths like Little piggies that we didn't take the time to snap pictures. Ce la Vie! On a bien Manger!

Everyday Food

What to have for dinner. The biggest dilemma in America on a daily basis. Unless you happen to live in the white house and have a personal chef--this is a daily ritual that we can all relate too.

Why is it so difficult? If you have children I can imagine it is tough to be creative every day. But even beyond that-there is something within us that screams for something colorful, tasty, filling and exciting. Then we open the fridge and see pickle relish, mustard and milk. Yeah-not exactly the makings of Haute cuisine in there.

I keep a few things on hand that allow me to make something good a lot of the time. I'm not going to lie and say every night is like a french bistro--but I do usually have something tasty and healthy most every night. Even if that is french bread and good cheese.

So I took a picture of my salads tonight. One was for dinner and the other was for Lunch the next day on the train. Far superior to train food!

I always keep really good pitted olives, hard boiled eggs, pickled onions, pickled sweet peppers, cheese, lettuce on hand. For these salads I also had some steak and chicken pieces that I had taken home from my friend Janis's Kentucky derby party. The salads were very yummy. Oh I had some fresh pineapple so I added a little of that chopped up as well.

The salad dressing in the background is from trader Joe's. I make my own for company-but just for me I use this stuff which is low cal and you fat and VERY tasty.

It took about ten minutes to make both salads.

So many things can go into a salad. In a couple of weeks I am going to have one of the Diva ladies over who eats salad every day -0but has been eating the same salad for about a year. We are going to have a lesson on salad variety. both the type of lettuce and the things you use in it. And then maybe even the dressings.

Last week we had dinner for my friend Paula's birthday. We made a fabulous salad with all the things I mentioned above plus some thinly sliced fennel. It was just delicious. We had that with some of my homemade sweet onion dressing.

On the menu that night was the salad as well as these really tasty mussels we made with a tomato cilantro hot pepper sauce and some nice crusty french bread--toasted with garlic scraped across the top. A couple of fresh artichokes with a nice dipping sauce and Viola! a fabulous meal.

Of course I forgot to take pictures of that-but it was colorful and inviting--trust me.

OK-Paris next!

POP POP POP!

That is what all the flowers are doing. Yesterday my peony tree went from bud to flower in ten minutes! Oh what a beauty it is too.

The Primroses are passing by but they are still so colorful and happy. Since they are shade plants they really light up a shade garden. The Lamium with them is gorgeous as well-but that blooms most of the summer. Pink, White and dark pink. Lovely.

The wisteria, scotch broom and lilacs are in full bloom as well.

No disasters in the garden since I gave myself a concussion with the hammer. But today I go out and get the garden ready for my two week absence so I am sure to do something klutzy. I'll keep you posted. :).

Yes, two week absence. I will be in London, Paris and Geneva. SO guess what? when I am in Paris I will have lots of postings. My sister is coming with me and she has not been in Paris since we were children (when we used to live there). She wants to visit all of our old houses. This should be an experience.

I went to my grandmothers house in Clamart a few years ago. Her neighbor was still alive. He immediately knew who I was-and i swear he had not changed in 30 years!

Paris is such a foodie's heaven. I will be in my glory sucking up all the chocolate croissants I can get my hands on. And butter-I just mainline the butter-why try to eat it on something-that is so time consuming. :).

SO stay tuned-and enjoy the garden shots from above. There will be no garden shots for a while now-just lots of FOOD!!! French Food. YUM!!

Babes in Toy land

OK-I can't exactly call my sister and I "babes". but we were definitely in toy land at my friend Ellen's house this week. Ellen is a master gardener and probably a master at most things. She's been my friend for 30 years and together we have shared a love of food, gardening, shopping, clothes, shoes and all things girly.

She lives in Greensboro close enough to my mom that one of us visits the other when I am there. This time it was my turn to do the drive. And happily so.

We arrived just in time for lunch (of course we planned that!) Ellen has an amazing vegetable garden and the lettuce was just up enough to make a fabulous salad. We also had a delicious mix of sausage and potatoes and peppers. But the real treat was dessert!

Ellen made us these delicious macaroons. Knowing I am allergic to coconut-she kindly made two types: almond and coconut. The almond ones were scrumptious. I hear the coconut ones were better. alas I will never know...:(.

We then went out in to the garden and looked at all her fruit trees laden with fruit which will ripen through the summer, gorgeous flowers everywhere (she has a 10 acre property so a lot of planting and naturalization), and unusual garden elements that catch the eye.

I photographed our treats as well as a beautiful weeping conifer along the drive that she is training around a metal railing she found. The conifer is spectacular. The other shot is a view looking down the driveway. the first picture is her cutting garden just before it goes into full spectacular bloom.

Big girls playground.

The Real McCoy

Frequently when people visit my house they are stunned to find out I do 90% of my own gardening. I must admit I do have help with some of the more mundane tasks of replanting or mulching or clean up. Although even then I am right there helping.

I have heard people claim to be their own gardener-however they are never working in the garden and they know nothing about there plants. So I am always suspicious.

For those of us who do slave for hours every week (happily of course) we take great pride in our ability to do everything ourselves.

SO how do you tell if you are dealing with a real gardener or an impostor? If you have had your doubts about your catty friends comments about her yard versus yours and her gardening ability-here's a sure fire way to know if she or he are the real gardeners.

Check the kitchen sink. It has recently come t0 my attention that every true gardening Friend that I know has a nail brush by the kitchen sink. The absence of the nail brush signals-AN IMPOSTOR! you can rat them out if you want because in my book this is proof positive!

Oh the tell tail signs....:).

Premature Florigation

This is when all the flowers in your garden bloom at once and then turn green-leaving you feeling empty and used.

The cause: Over exuberance at seeing pretty blooming beauties.

The fix: Restraint.

Common Scenario:
First week of spring you look out into the yard and think "THIS is the year I am going to have a gorgeous garden!" SO you race to the local nursery (or closest big Box store) and come back with a car full of plants. You plant them all, fertilize them and are in awe at your handiwork. For about a month. then slowly you are left feeling empty and sad as the whole garden devolves into green leaves or worse yet, brown sticks.

STOP THE INSANITY! Do not-I repeat DO NOT go buy everything you can get your hands on the first week of spring. Perennials bloom but once a year for a short period of time (2-3 weeks). They come back every year - but they only bloom once a year. The only way to have flowers all year with a perennial garden is to plan.

This is called Succession Gardening. Of course most of you are not going to spend hours researching which plant blooms when. I suspect you have your hands full just tyring to figure out when to fertilize and when to deadhead.

SO what's an aspiring gardener to do? It's very simple. Go to the nursery every three weeks. Their stock will change as the growing season changes because the only things that sell are things with blooms on them. So if you go and buy a few plants every three weeks- you will have a lovely garden next year that blooms all season!

How simple was that? And all it took was a little restraint.

Hammered

Today was one of my usual obsessive compulsive days in the garden. Nothing new. Today's obsession was the greenhouse for the fig tree.

Since the fig tree already has fig buds (see previous post) I was quite concerned to get it under wraps in preparation for what I am sure will be at least one more frost before summer is ushered in.

So there I was, standing on a ladder, pounding the heck out of the frame of this portable green house, when all of a sudden the hammer flew out of my hand and hit me square between the eyes. BAM!

I saw stars and momentarily started to fall off the ladder. But I managed to keep it together and utter a few curse words as I walked around the garden trying to act like nothing had happened. I made the mistake of touching the area. OUCH! Wow did that hurt.

Ok, 30 seconds have gone by. I can now ignore it and get back on the ladder and finish.

Hours later I am incredibly sleepy but not allowing myself to rest. I had to give that little 15 minute speech on garden design at the garden club tonight so I couldn't go to sleep. What if I didn't wake up in time?? No, had to tough it out. Just keep moving, everything will be fine.

As the time approached to head over to the garden club meeting I was really feeling tired, but i got in the car and proceeded to go to the meeting. Well at least I proceeded somewhere-but it wasn't the garden club meeting. After going the wrong way for about 10 minutes I realized something was amiss. Oh dear-not a good sign.

Got there, unpacked my things, sat down and just wanted to fall asleep. Thank goodness the speakers were interesting-it really kept me alert.

Time for the presentation. Turned on the lap top and the projector. OK-how do I move my cursor? Honestly-I could not remember how to move the cursor on my laptop. My lap top was staring back at me like a tablet with Hieroglyphics. Nothing looked familiar.

Somehow I managed to get through the technical panic and did the presentation. The flowers I can talk about in my sleep-so at least I was able to sound coherent even though my mind was mostly absent.

Currently I am trying to stay awake till 10:30. The nurses in the Garden Club are all worried I have a concussion. I know what that means-don't sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. So I will set my alarm for 2:30 and then Liz has promised to wake me at 5:30 as this is the hideous hour she gets up for work.

Yes, gardening is a dangerous sport. I skied all winter with nary a bump or a scratch-but set me loose in the garden and I manage to get a concussion. this leads me to believe that perhaps I should be wearing the helmet to garden instead of to ski. This would be particularly attractive when I am gardening in my PJ's. You Tube anyone?

I'll sign in tomorrow so everyone knows I made it through the night. I know you will be on pins and needles...
Bon soir.

Hey Bud! Grow UP!

Yes, it's spring. In the beginning I promised cooking, gardening, and design. We did cooking all winter (and that will continue-do not dispair) and now we are moving into the gardening and design portion of this program. :).

I cannot tell you how excited I am. Four years ago I planted a Moscow Pink Lilac. For four years it grew profusely (five feet!) but never bloomed :(. I was giving it one more year in it's current location. Well actually I was giving it one more year-because it was sited perfectly so moving it would not have made a difference.

Yesterday-as I was perusing my newborns (that is how it feels every spring watching everything come out of the ground and grow)-I saw them. BUDS!! and lots of them too!!! Oh how exciting. I had to share this with you. If you look closely at the picture you will see lots of buds. The Moscow Pink Lilac is a particularly beautiful specimen with lovely very soft pink buds. Not that the traditional Lilac isn't pretty-but this one is a real knock out. I can't wait to see it in bloom.

I also spotted my first Fig bud today. Amazingly early! usually it is mid May before any show up. I didn't take a picture of that-but I will. I was too busy doing my fig bud dance around the tree to take a picture. No pictures of that unless the neighbors have a webcam on their crazy neighbor that gardens in her robe.

The primroses are coming up as well-they are so cute and -their colors so cheery and vibrant--almost fluorescent actually. Hard to believe these plants prefer almost full shade. Very similar to Tuberous Begonias that are also extremely colorful but like shade. The Primrose is a hardy perennial though-unlike the Begonia that is a bulb which must be lifted each fall. and stored inside.

I will be speaking at the garden club this week on garden design. this is a topic I could speak on for hours. But I only have 15 minutes. Guess I will have to talk fast.

The pictures of the path are an example of how much more inviting a winding path is than a straight one. Hard scape can be used to allow the eye to wander or to force the eye to a location. In this instance, the path draws the visitor to the front door-but also allows them to "visit" along the way by creating a sense of whimsy with a drunken path. (please excuse the grass-it has not awakened to spring yet).

This week the Dahlia and Blazing Star bulbs and Hostas and Hydrangeas went in the ground along with lots of seeds: Beets, snap peas, Sweet pea flowers, larkspur, cleome, cosmos and who knows what else.

Also, the official plant moving season has begun. In the house nothing has been changed for nine years. Outside the house? I move my plants like most people change their underwear. Honestly-I am never happy. today I moved the Rio Samba rose, a hydrangea, and three daylillies. If you are a plant in my garden you better travel light cause you will be moving a lot!

Of course it is not entirely my fault. These plants have a mind of their own coming back a foot or so from their original location. When you are a perfectionist in the garden this is not practical. It sets up a whole series of moves.

I am already eyeing this weekend's moves. I will post before and afters on these--and I am sure you will agree--the move was all for the best. :).

Now go get dirty!

"leaf" the stems? sometimes.

This topic came up in one of my classes recently and I wanted to pass on scientific information on the topic.

I was using cilantro for the Veloute and used the chopped stems in the broth (which would later be strained out). One of the students was aghast that I would use the stems-thinking that all herbs had unpleasant stems.

My advice was that cilantro is an herb that you can use the entire leaf and stem for flavor. But I did not think that any other heb shared this distinction. I did say the fine stems of parsley were ok.

Today, Cook's illustrated had this to say about thier test of Cilantro and parsley stems:

"Recently, we heard a wild rumor that the stems of flat-leaf parsley hold more flavor than the leaves. We decided to put this notion to the test, and, because most of us had also heard of using cilantro stems (a.k.a.Chinese parsley) in cooking, we included it in the test as well. After cleaning and drying several bunches of parsley and cilantro, we asked tasters to eat the herbs by the sprig, from the tender leaf to the fat tip of the stem. What did we find? Well, the stems do have more flavor, but that's not always good news. While the parsley leaves were fresh and herbal, we were surprised by how intense the flavor became as we traveled down the stems. By the time we reached the stem ends, tasters were complaining (loudly) about bitterness. Cilantro, however, was another story. Sure the leaves were tasty, but the great flavor found in the stems caught us all off guard. Sweet, fresh, and potent the flavor intensified as we traveled down the stem but never became bitter. The moral? If a recipe calls for cilantro and a crunchy texture isn't an issue, use the stems as well as the leaves. But when it comes to parsley—unless you'll be using the herb in a soup or stew where its strong flavor won't be out of place—be picky and use just the leaves"

I love being right :).

Hamming it up on Easter

It's Easter and many of you will be preparing meals for your family. Hopefully they will be Yummy. However my experience has been that people spend a lot of time on the sides and leave the ham to some third party.

Now this may seem like a good idea since-how much can you screw up ham-but I have tasted some pretty bad hams in my day (and I am not talking former BF's here). So many things can go wrong with the wrong ham (in this case I am talking former BF's-haha)

Ham's can be turned into some pretty ethereal things -think Prosciutto. Or they can be very lackluster-think packaged deli ham. Same meat-different process. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't (again back to the ex BF's-but I digress)

So in honor of the "hammiest time of year" (yes, that was a play on holiest), I will let you in on some ham testing (again with the old BF's-I have to stop this!). Seriously:

My favorite food publication is Cook's Illustrated. Their guidance is invaluable. So for Easter I am going to share their taste test results for Ham. IF you haven't bought your ham yet-I would suggest listening to them as they are very scientific about their taste tests and product comparisons. They have never let me down.

They have a great website called America's Test Kitchen that you can subscribe to for $29.95/yr. May sound pricey-but they have incredible hot to video's on just about any topic and they do these great product comparisons that you can trust since they take NO advertising dollars!


Recommended

Cook's Spiral Sliced Hickory Smoked Bone-In Honey Ham
Nearly every taster praised the "nice balance of smoke and salt" and "genuine ham flavor."
$3.29 per pound

Not Recommended

Carando Honey-Cured Spiral Sliced Ham
The thickly-sliced ham earned high marks for its "deep, smoky flavor," but tasters criticized the meat as "too wet" and "too sweet."
$2.99 per pound

Not Recommended

Hillshire Farm Bone-In Brown Sugar Cured Ham (Spiral-Sliced Ham)
This ham lost points on two accounts: Tasters described the meat as "utterly devoid of smoke flavor" and "spongy and cottony," and no one liked the "sweet, gummy" glaze applied at the factory.

Wishing you and your families the tastiest of Easter's.

Inappropriate paddling-again!

An urge struck me this afternoon to make Nut Rolls. I have no idea why-but I went with it. It had been a building urge. Something that had been calling to me for days. Baking is not usually something I do without reason. But here I was making nut rolls in the middle of the day, in between and during conference calls.

I made the scalded milk, added the butter and sugar and then the eggs. Then the yeast. Now it was time to pour all that in the mixer and add the flour.

As I am doing this, I am reminded of the last time I made nut roll. It was Christmas and I was already exhausted from making the 5000 cookies. I had cracked the 7 eggs in a bowl instead of separating them, poured my tea into the eggs instead of my tea cup and then used the wire whisk instead of the dough hook to mix in the flour. A disaster ensued. ALthough it was one I ate in private and it was quite yummy-but that is another story.

All the while I chalked this up to extreme exhaustion.

Today I am making everything fully rested, reading the recipe twice to make sure everything is going in at the right time. Actually measuring (for the most part), altering the recipe for things I want to try out (more egg yolk, less egg white) and in general--being "present"--or so I thought.

Enter senior moment. Staring at the mixer I am thinking about how the last time I had been so stupid as to use the wire whisk and watch and wonder why the dough was not climbing the dough hook. How silly, I thought.

There I am staring at this going round and round in the bowl and wondering why it isn't climbing the dough hook.

Are you ready for this? I wasn't using the dough hook! I put the pastry paddle on this time instead of the dough hook. I couldn't believe it. While thinking about how I did it the last time-I did it again! there is definitely something wrong with my brain!

I recovered this time - getting the dough hook on and finishing the job. But really-how can I be so stupid?? You don't see THAT on the food network!

The nut rolls came out beautifully. I forgot to take pictures before I put them in their respective ziploc bags. But I enclosed one from the christmas set. they look the same. Most of them are getting sent out for Easter-but I am keeping the little ones I make in the Brioche tins. they are so cute. You can just pop them in your mouth. Pop! yummy! Expand. Oh well.

Creme Anglaise and a likable (or is that lickable) Impostor

Creme Anglaise is not technically one of the mother sauces. However it is a custard and was included in my Sauces class because I feel all good goods should be versed in custard basics.

A Creme Anglaise will make any cake dessert sublime. It takes the ordinary and makes it "WOW OH WOW is that GOOD!" And really-if you are going to make something-you probably want the accolades. Why settle for "oh -this is good"--when you could have so much more?

So is this something you will regret trying to make and throw the pan at your laptop cursing me out? Not likely. But will you occasionally screw it up because you weren't paying attention? Probably. But don't be discouraged. It happens to the best of us. Concentration is so easily broken by the door bell, the phone or any other daily distraction you are likely to encounter. I will say-any custard takes concentration and attention to detail for about 10 minutes. If you can handle that-you can handle a custard.

By the way, custards are the basis for all homemade ice creams. So master this and you can become the neighborhood ice cream guru. I love making all different kinds of creative ice creams. Carmel corn, Guinness beer, five spice, etc., it's really fun once you get the hang of the basics. But I digress...

Creme Anglaise:

It is yet another egg and the hot milk story. So once again-science is involved. One must not cook the egg or in this case-allow the egg to continue to cook.

So first you need to prepare an ice-water bath-this will be used for the sauce after you have cooked it to proper temperature. you will want to stop the cooking process immediately by straining the sauce into a bowl set on the ice water bath.

Now put milk in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.

Make sure the heat is not too high-you want the milk to come to a boil slowly otherwise more than likely you will burn the milk.

While the milk is heating, in a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and salt until thick and light (I usually add vanilla now as well-even though the recipe doesn't call for it). Slowly pour in half of the hot milk, while stirring constantly. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the remaining milk mixture, stirring constantly.

Be careful to temper the egg by adding the milk very slowly-bringing the egg up to temperature instead of cooking it and making scrambled eggs. If your mixture looks like scrambled eggs-throw it out and try again. This time-go SLOWLY!

If you are successful and your mixture is smooth congratulations you are half way there-stir in the bourbon.

Now the fun part. Place saucepan over low heat and bring to a gently simmer, stirring constantly. Continue cooking until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and reaches 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. (oh there is that darn thermometer again. I told you to buy one! ) Immediately remove from heat.

Strain Crème Anglaise through a fine mesh sieve set over a medium bowl. Set bowl in ice water bath and stir Crème Anglaise until cooled.

That's it! A perfectly lovely sauce that will make anything taste delicious!

Now for an impostor that is easier to make and very yummy. (I'm going to let you in on a secret here-I like it better than the Creme Anglaise!)

Sauce:
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup amaretto liqueur
2 teaspoons cornstarch

To make the sauce: Bring the cream, milk, and sugar to a boil in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. In a small bowl, mix the amaretto and cornstarch to blend and then whisk into the cream mixture. Simmer over medium-low heat until the sauce thickens, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Set aside and keep warm. (The amaretto sauce can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before serving.)

I wonder how many days those women on TV would want you to starve yourself to have a teaspoon of this stuff? two weeks maybe? I think I'll eat the whole bowl just to piss them off. Well ok-maybe the whole bowl is going a bit too far. Half. :).

Dieting do's and dont's

This weekend I was watching some Today Show type program (have no idea what it was as I do not watch TV very often). The only time I really watch TV is when I am up skiing and turn it on when I am vegging after a hard day of skiing.

So there I am eating my french bread, cheese, and egg sandwich that I made which was Oh SO Yummy, listening to these two very very very thin women talk about diets.

This is what they said:
Have a yogurt in the morning and a fruit for a snack and then a half a sandwich for lunch with a salad. Dinner? a salad with some chicken on top and if you are still really hungry-a dessert like sugar free pudding.

But here's the really scary part, they said this was a plan you could stick with! Not something crazy like no sugar or no carbs or what ever else you might have tried. And yes-if you wanted a treat-every once in a while-have it. But just not every week. EVERY WEEK???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are they nuts? Yes, these women are clearly a size 0 and this is what they are telling women they should do for the rest of their lives to be a size 0.

Oh, and that glass of wine? Forget it-it contains 150 fat producing, willpower reducing calories. Just say no. So say no to food, wine, dessert, anything that might make you happy and reasonable. But you'll be a size 0!

Honestly, I don't want to be a size 0 and I certainly don't want to only eat something fun once a week! Also, I have no desire to walk around in a perpetually starved state of mind. I think this is a great way to keep women down. If your mind is not your own, if all you are focused on is losing weight and fighting that "I am totally starved right now but I can't eat so I can lose weight" feeling-how are you going to give 100% to what ever it is that is really important in your life?

I am not advocating gluttony or over eating-but I am really sick of how women get on TV and talk about being thin as the single most important thing a woman can do. Healthy yes, thin to bony-disturbing and counterproductive.

I finished my egg sandwich, licked the egg off my finger and changed the channel. I advise you to do the same.