nudgeprincess

Latest article in the Arlington Advocate is about Rosh Hashanah, farmers' markets and taking the time to enjoy the beauty of New England seasons.
http://shar.es/1XgTw

Love to know your favorite fall holiday dish if you feel like sharing :)

I have been working for the Arlington Farmers' Market and doing a lot of writing and cooking and gardening this summer. Everyone is concerned about the tomato blight situation but this crazy season has also been good for some things. My cucumber plants are looking to take over the world! If you feel like sharing, I would love to know what you have a bounty of in your garden.

Also, you might enjoy my latest article which gives a local perspective to the tomato situation as well as a good pickle recipe :) Bounty of the Season: Something good is always in season - Arlington, MA - The Arlington Advocate
http://shar.es/9wkC

I saw a recipe for beet and chocolate cake and it sounded great. I started to wonder what other veggies I could buy at the farmers' market and make into cake. Since there were a bunch I wanted to try I decided to make mini cupcakes of four varieties with four frostings (1 1/2 dozen each kind). This is where the normal husband would say "You're nuts!" Mine said "here let me peel that zucchini for you..." and "hey I just thought of a few more to try next time"

So we made pea cupcakes with pea and cinnamon frosting, roasted carrot with vanilla bean frosting and marigold petals, beet fudge cupcakes with bittersweet glaze and candied beets for decoration, and zucchini lemon with lemon buttercream.

We took them to a party last night and they were a big hit. Favorite was the beet chocolate.

Our garden plan is in full swing. The patio that was once surrounded with an ugly overgrown yew hedge is now an an all edible garden with shrubs, herbs, perennials and veggies. I will share photos soon of progress. Many things are planned but so far we have planted the following:
Highbush (American) Cranberry
Pink Champagne Currants
Red Gooseberries
Shrub Rose-Watercolor
Jalapenos
Nasturtiums-Dwarf Jewel
Beets-Burpee Golden and Chicago Red
Radish-Easter Egg II
Peas-Sugar Ann
Beans-Provider

Bought and ready to be planted:
Strawberries-Fragraria, Allstar, Ozark Beauty
Pineapple sage
Pineapple mint
Longwood thyme
Cream thyme
Lemon Verbena
Carrots-short and sweet
Cucumber-lemon

Big pots of yellow and purple violas line our front steps and walk. The tulips and daffodils are popping up all over and the iris and yellow day lillies (cvirtue--best housewarming present!) look strong and are getting bigger every day.

I had a grand landscaping plan when we moved in. Now I have a reasonable one that is much more wallet friendly and husband's back friendly. This spring the goal is to get the front beds in nice shape and well planted and create a container veggie garden surrounding the patio. We will not bother to work too hard to repair the grub eaten lawn as next year we plan to destroy a good deal of it in favor of wild borders and beds. For this summer it remains Miss A's personal soccer field.

A. wants radishes and tomatoes for sure. Is there anything that you can recommend that we should not live without in our little garden or any good sources for plants.

Happy Spring!

Yesterday was the last day of the Arlington Farmers Market for the season. I filled my shopping totes like a frantic squirrel with a long cold winter on the way. I got up this morning and saw the day old loaf of brioche on the kitchen counter and the last few duck eggs in the fridge and decided that French Toast was necessary. Duck eggs, 1/2 and 1/2, pinch of sugar and cinnamon. Dunk the slices of brioche in the mix. Cook on buttered griddle until golden brown. Drizzle with cranberry honey.

A rather expensive treat. Which set me thinking:
1. I need to learn to make brioche.
2. Does my town allow one to raise ducks?
3. Will my friend CV get honey next summer?
3. Could I trade duck eggs for honey?
4. Random crazy thoughts of making cheese, churning butter, and why I didn't put up more pickles and jam since what we have will not last the winter, making quilts again, and planting a big garden next spring swirling in my head...

OK enough back to my real job now!

Step 1: Get yourself a husband who knows how to cook
Step 2: Buy waffle iron on sale
Step 3: Leave cookbooks lying around with pages open to waffle recipes
Step 4: Encourage said husband to make waffles with pithy comments such as "Boy, waffles would taste good about now..." Enlist hungry children in this endeavor as they have much skill and experience in coercion
Step 5: Hang around the kitchen when waffle making finally commences debating topping options, syrup, honey, homemade grape jam, etc.
Step 6: Eat a big pile of waffles
Step 7: Hide a few cooled waffles in the freezer
Step 8: I can haz waffles for lunch nom nom nom

The daylillies made quite a showing in their first year. Lemony-yellow smiles.

This week is the opening of many of the local farmer's markets. I decided sometime in the cold dark days of winter that I would make at least one farmer's market trip a week during the season and make dinner from whatever I get. Tonight is fresh swordfish, braised baby beets and beet greens (with garlic, honey, and port wine vinegar), and salad. I also bought some lemonade from the stand that was raising money for the food pantry and an English cream biscuit for the hungry shopper.

The first bed we cleared and planted looks great. The daffodils and tulips are taking their final bow but the rugosa roses are all full of buds and promise and lush dark green leaves. What a lovely wedding present from dear friends. Keeping them company are lavender, sage, African blue basil, johnson's blue geraniums, dwarf crested iris (a gift from our neighbor) mini roses and autumn sage all around the border and a clematis (the only plant left from the previous owner) which is smothering the light post in leaves and buds.

The second bed is well on the way. There are yellow bricks behind it and soon it will filled with yellow flowers with a few hints of pink. It started with a housewarming gift of yellow daylillies (cultivar C. Virtue) and another called Buttered Popcorn, along with some bicolor (yellow and white) dahlias across the back of the bed. In the middle are landscape shrub roses Carefree Sunshine (bright yellow) and Rainbow (pink edge, yellow centers.) One end of the bed has two large yellow and green hostas and the edge is golden sage and tiny pinks (dianthus).

We also filled two over-sized strawberry pots with herbs--one with a mix and one with only different varieties of thyme because you can never have enough thyme. There are also two big pots filled with bronze fennel and pansys and some miniature roses. These will need to find a new home when we start the bigger landscape project so we are keeping them "mobile".