Rescue dinner becomes five star discovery

Do you like the clickbait? As it happens it's accurate. So yesterday I boiled the last two farm redskin potatoes,  to make German potato salad today. It felt tender enough while keeping its shape. But farm potatoes seem much denser than shop bought, maybe because fresh from the ground. And they turned out to cube up a treat, but taste underdone.

So I shoveled them into the fridge to think. They were already dressed with oil, vinegar and seasalt.

So for Sunday supper I thought I'd roast them, being partial to roast spuds and opposed to wasting food. And cubed up a fresh tomato, some Colby cheese, in a cast iron pan. I put the pan into the oven for the warming up period, so the food already sizzled when I tipped it all in, with a bit more salt and oil. 30 minutes at 400f. And it had a bit of fat left from cooking hot italian sausage. You don't always have to clean pans like a sterilizing process.

And it turned out excellent. In fact I think I'll put a dash of vinegar in future roast vegetables, really good touch. So, accidental art in the kitchen happened.

Morning walk in the neighborhood

Sunny day, and a walk around the neighborhood yielded some interesting stuff.

The tree decorated with soda cans, slit, squashed down like lanterns, whirling in the wind and making a sort of tinkling whistling sound

Then, on the next corner a new crop of fungi reclaiming their ancestral space. Can any blogistas identify?

Such a change from the news.

Spin off idea from Two Fat Ladies

Self care in turbulent times for me includes the adventures of Two Fat Ladies the riotous aristo cooks, on library DVD. They careen all over the place on Jennifer's motorbike with Clarissa in the sidecar, cooking rich and indigestible food in exciting locations for hungry groups.

They source their own food, shooting their own game birds, fishing their sea catch, picking shellfish off rocks and strawberries in fields, short supply chain. I don't think they slaughter their own beef, but I expect they knew the cows by name. I like sourcing fruit and veg and honey more than animals.

And they break into song in medias res, Clarissa, the forner barrister, would approve the phrase. But here and there, though I wouldn't cook the food they love, they have great side ideas.

One is mustard butter, used for tiny sandwiches such as cucumber. Just mix softened butter with Dijon mustard.  Always on whole wheat bread. And you can slice your bread thin if you soak your knife in hot water first. There, two tips right off.

Later I'll try to use up some cucumber this way, but meanwhile a little slice of home baked along with farm tomatoes and Dutch cheese, and an Asian pear from the farm made a great lunch today. No cooking, all assembly.

Sign of Fall

The ficus tree, very healthy, plenty of leaves, in contrast to the failing tree that went to camp on the patio in May, is back in the living room.  She did not want to come in, scratched me, fell on my head, but I finally wrestled her in and into the giant saucer. After disentangling the drapes she'd clutched on the way in.

The reason she does so well outside is that she puts roots through the bottom of the pot into the earth, and pretends she's a wild daring outdoor tree. Then I have to cut them to bring her in and she does fine over the winter, but starts to fail toward spring, when she goes outside again.

As you see, she's brushing the ceiling now. I've root pruned her twice over the forty-odd years I've had her, since she was a little sprig of a tree perched on the back seat of my car coming home from the shop.

So that's done for the season.

Last tribute to Duncan

Today this card came from the vets, signed by both vets, and all the staff. And they gave him his correct full name. C.K.Duncan. Good people. Someone's chopping onions around here.

Sunday lunch

Whole-wheat home baked bread, fresh cucumber from friend's garden next door, sharp cheddar from Vermont. Five star.

First casualty of Florence

Florence isn't even here yet but a couple of sturdy gusts of warning and my black cherry sapling snapped off. See the sad little stump. The top practically somersaulted over the fence. There are suckers which I'll leave in place and see how they go.

Back to square one of planning for shade out there.

 inside the fence

Outside the fence

Labor Day 2018

The day we celebrate work by not doing any.

Starting with a breakfast of farm peach drizzled with farm honey, whole-wheat pancakes.