The Gift Of a Beautiful Day In Late Winter

Today was a lovely, almost Springlike day here in Central Oklahoma.  A rare treat, since we've had snow and COLD off and on for weeks, with only a day or two of respite.  (Not exactly normal for us.)  Today was sunny, and bright, and not too cold.  A perfect day to get out and visit our friends at the winery.

Canadian River Vineyards and Winery in Slaughterville, OK is a lovely place to visit. Friendly folks (even if they haven't known you for years), and GREAT wine.  They have a nice deck overlooking the vineyards where you can sit and enjoy the view.  You can taste all the wines they have available in the Tasting Room, and we ALWAYS buy some, even though we really go just to see our friends.  All the grapes are grown locally in Oklahoma, and their wines have won awards at several festivals.  My favorite right now is the Moscato, which is sweeter than the wines I usually like.  They also have a fabulous Merlot, and Shiraz, and chardonnay, and ... it's ALL good!

We have a long tradition of taking food out to share with our friends (and even other customers if they want some).  Today I took a simple appetizer that I got the recipe for from an email pal years ago. You take a small wheel of Brie (or, as I did this time, Camembert), put it on a microwave safe plate, and spread the top with basil pesto. (I use my homemade pesto.  I try to put enough in the freezer every Summer to last until the basil comes back again in late Spring.)  Then you pile some toasted slivered or sliced almonds on top, and zap it in the microwave for a minute or so, just until the cheese is softened.  Served with toasted baguette rounds, it makes a lovely accompaniment to all types of wine.  We also took some of Matt's homemade beer mustard and some corned beef.  All were very popular.
I made a batch of dark chocolate shortbread and took that as well.  A few folks were eating that with the Moscato and with the Merlot.  (Dark chocolate and Merlot pair very well!)

Being able to share good food with good friends is a great joy.  Wish we could do these things more often, but life is so very busy.  I just decided that the laundry could wait this week, and we should go see friends we haven't seen in awhile.  We had a very nice visit, and I only used my phone a couple of times to upload a photo or two.  Spent the rest of the time talking with our friends and other visitors to the winery.  It was a very, very nice day.

Now we are home, the wine is safely stashed in the wine rack, and Matt has the brisket in the brine for the home made corned beef for St. Paddy's Day.  Time for me to finish this up, start the laundry, and see what else I can get into.

I hope your Saturday was enjoyable as well!

We made a happy wine rack today.  All full up.  (The liquor shelf was already happy.)

Garden Notes

Here is an inventory of the herbs I have found grow best here, and how many plants I have in my herb/flower beds at the moment.  (I use some more than others, for instance, the chocolate mint is just so nice to grab a sprig of and enjoy the fragrance while out in the yard, but I haven't found a good culinary use yet.)

Lemon Balm (1) This one plant is a survivor of many seasons.  It grows in a pot on the patio, usually with Basil as a roommate.

Lemon balm in the foreground with basil.

Basil (4) There are four basil plants in the garden.  Two of them are in the pots shown above.  Basil is used in many things, most notably the pesto recipe I posted yesterday.

Sage (3) There are three  clumps of sage growing in the gardens.  (One in the pot on the left above, one in the herb bed, and a large clump in the back garden beds.)  Sage is used in many recipes, and looks interesting in the garden.

Sage is in the far end of this nearest garden bed.

 

 

 

The large clump of sage in the back garden.  This has been growing here for about 2 years now.

Rosemary (3)  There are three rosemary plants in my gardens out back, and one in the pot on the front porch.  You can barely see one of the rosemary plants in the first of the pictures above, right between the two marigolds on the right center.

Rosemary growing in the main herb bed in the middle of the yard.

There's oregano behind it, and begonias right beside it.









Lavender (4) There are four lavender plants in my gardens this year.  The one in the picture on the right  is mostly ornamental, and for fragrance. 

This one in the picture on the left is used for many things, including cooking.










Oregano (6)  There are about six clumps of oregano growing in the main herb bed.  They came from a couple of plants that just went native in there.  Mint is the only thing I know more pervasive than Oregano. 

This is but one of the large clumps of oregano in that main central herb bed.  Having fresh oregano is handy when making pesto and also tomato sauces.










Garlic Chives (7)  These have truly naturalized themselves all over the yard.  There's a small clump in the main herb bed, and then six or so in the back garden bed closest to the shed and the north fence.  Every time Matt does the weed eating back in that area behind the shed, it smells like garlic out there for a couple of days. 

All those spiky, grass-like plants are garlic chives.  They grow in that garden bed with basil, and  snapdragons and marigolds, and I think a begonia as well.

 Garlic chives are good for salads, in sauces, and are an important part of the pesto sauce I make.












Chocolate Mint (2)  This year I planted two little pots of chocolate mint.  I have never found a culinary use for it, but it smells so delicious, and is so enjoyable just to pick and carry around savoring the fragrance. 

This on the left is the chocolate mint that is in the center of the main herb bed.  Right at the feet of my little statue of St. Francis. 


Below and to the right is the chocolate mint in the back garden, in the front bed that is next to the shed.  It grows right next to the huge batch of sage,and among a lot of marigolds and a begonia or two.  There is also a clump of very hardy Mother Of Thyme right there.

Thyme  (2)  There are two kinds of thyme in my garden.  German thyme, also called creeping thyme or mother of thyme, and English thyme.  The mother of thyme can be seen just above and to the right of the chocolate mint in the photo above right.  

 And here below is the English thyme in the main herb bed.  

Parsley (2)  There are two parsley plants this year.  One in the corner of the main herb bed, and one in the square raised beds on the south side of the yard.  The photo shows the plant in the main herb bed.

Catnip (2) (Or possibly more)  The catnip is coming up volunteer from many years of previous plantings.  It is only in the main herb bed, and right near the oregano and parsley on the north-west side of that large bed. 

We no longer have a cat, but I guess I can supply my friends' cats with homegrown kitty happiness weed.  Catnip does have other uses, most in folk remedies, which I do not dabble in.

This is the current inventory of herbs in my gardens.  Thought it might make for an interesting post. 

Another Miscellaneous Saturday

Yes, this Saturday has also been a bit miscellaneous.  I am very grateful to have had this Saturday.  I will like it better when Matt is more rested and acclimated to the medications he has to take, so he can be busy, too.  He has spent the day downloading and setting up LoseIt! to help him monitor his food and exercise, and he has a diabetes helper app to help him track the blood sugar.  So far, everything seems to be  going all right.

I went for my walk, and came home and did a few miscellaneous things that needed doing, and then mowed the lawns.  When I was out front, I noticed how covered in blooms the one Simplicity pink rose by the front walk is.  Thought you should see it. 

Even before I went out to mow the lawn, I went looking for something in the side compartment of my desk.  Big mistake.  It made this lovely crapalanche for me to clean up.  Fortunately, I eventually did have a chance to sort it all out (and throw out a bunch of crap).  Below is the result of my efforts.

There is still the small matter of the phone cables that I need to get rid of.  I don't think we'll ever need them again now that we have not only cell phones, but wireless handsets for the landline.
The cables over by the wall are always a mess.  Too many extension cords because I have two printers in this room, and this computer will only talk to one of them.  Fortunately, the laptop speaks to both.

I have also gotten all the laundry done.  This happened before 10 pm.  For some reason, this is a rare occurrence lately.  Something usually happens to delay the laundry.  Not today.  All done and put away except the stuff that has to hang dry.

A little superstitious about what to wear tomorrow.  I could wear what I was going to wear last Sunday, but maybe it's not a good idea.  So much went wrong after that.  Hm.  I have to quit being so superstitious.  Real problem with wearing it this week is that it is probably too cold to wear it.  Last Sunday was lovely and sunny.  It's cloudy and COLD out there tonight.  Supposed to get up to 64 tomorrow, but that's the high, and usually shows up in the afternoon.  Sunday morning is going to be chilly.  Calls for something more substantial than the dress I had in mind.  Oh well.  This is Oklahoma in the spring.

I should also say a few words of thanks to all the friends who have reminded us of their care and concern this week.  It feels good to know we are so well loved by friends both near and far.  The words of support mean a lot.  We know you will be on this journey with us, and knowing Matt, it may well lead to some really good tasting food that is actually good for you.  Just this evening, I made an even healthier version of my chili.  It tasted really good, was only 245 calories  and 7 grams of fat per 1 cup serving.  Sodium was 464mg, carbs 27g, and protein 20.2g.  The sodium is acceptable for limited sodium diets when you consider processed foods and my usual recipe contain much more.

I hope we can modify other things to make them healthier, and we will be sharing our successful recipes, have no fear.

Time to call an end to this.  My brain is still not completely back to normal after this wild and crazy week.

A Good Project for Someone, Not Me.

Since watching Julie and Julia, I have wondered if anyone ever tackled The Joy of Cooking in the same way Julie tackled Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It would be a pretty big task, to cook your way through that one. I have two editions of it, and I know there are likely a couple before and a couple between the two I have. It is a project I wouldn't have the patience for. These days my mind wanders off in search of new amusements more quickly than it used to. Some things get picked up again later, others not so much.
There is the knitting project I have been working on for more than two years now. It is a shawl, but I just can't seem to finish it. It goes on, and on, and on.
There is a cross-stitch project that is partway done, and I have taken it off the frame because it was getting dusty sitting there. There are nine or ten finished projects on the walls of the house. I CAN finish things, I just don't get there as easily the older I get.
So, cooking my way through an 849 page cookbook doesn't sound like something I could keep up with. Anybody else trying it? I'll have to Google search and find out. On the other hand, there is an entire section on cocktails. THAT might be interesting! (Most of the time the only alcohol I use for drinking is wine and the occasional dram of Scotch. The rest is for cooking with!)

If anyone reads this and has tried the challenge, let me know. I'd love to hear about it.
On other topics: I am currently reading My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. It is fascinating to read her own observations of what happened, how people treated her, how she determined the best way to work her way back, and the insight she gained in the process. I am still less than halfway through the book. The other reading project I have undertaken is Secret Ingredients, a collection of writings on food from the New Yorker. Only barely started on that one.
As always, other obligations are calling me away from this blog. Hope to be a more consistent blogger in the future.