no more gloom and doom...

...or, lemons make me smile.

  All of us have our "things"...be it: hobbies, foods, habits, or erstwise. One of mine (which are many) are lemons...their scent, the bite of sour, in drinks, in curd, rinds...well, I think I have made my point. I even like how Pledge makes my furniture so swoon-ily scented. Yesterday, at the market, I found THREE pounds of lemons for $1.99 (which is another "thing", personally, the deep bargain)...the lady at the checkout kept shooting odd glances as she rang up lemon bag after lemon bag....pshaw.

  Work this weekend has been incredibly hopping...60 large dogs in all of their boisterousness (and, well, excrement) ...::whew::... What was whirring in the grey matter through the decibels of barking? You guessed it, the wafting citrusy brilliance of my bagged friends....challenging a duel of wits (well, maybe the lemons were just hanging out). What to do with three pounds of lemons? Some say lemonade... but, this is what happened....

  Preserved lemons!!! Four jars. Thirty days to go, until they're done. You may doubt the magic these hold but, I assure you...when hosting guests for dinner, people rave. They are unique, spiced heavily, and can change any dish to: WOW. Last year, a friend was having an impromptu "old friends" reunion get together at his place. He works in a position at which he gets POUNDS of seafood if he requests it so. Not market fish, the kind that need cleaning, boning, and fileting. The plan was: IRON CHEF potluck. Everyone was to bring their own ingredients and we would make a dinner party of it (sidenote: myself=cook in former life as a job+all the time for many few, Sir W= studying for his Master chef as we speak, and Sir K=former cook+current mathematician extraordinare...were the Iron Chefs). Downside of plan: I was the ONLY brave cook that showed up when chow was beginning to be craved...these were one of my bring alongs. Garlic+real butter+riesling+ drum= happy well fed first course faces. Sir K appeared shortly thereafter and made magic with a random smattering of:crab boil spices, potato flakes, salt, pepper, my jardin garlic, and fry oil...sounds weak but, in the right hands, makes for sublime fried flounder. Aw, memories...


  With the remainder of the stragglers I decided to do this:

   And then make a non eggy aoili for marinating/dipping. With a bunch of parsley, 5 cloves of raw garlic, olive oil, shallots, salt and pepper. I'd list the recipes but, not really sure who checks this wee plink of the thing on the interwebs. If you'd like the recipes, though, just hit me up....I love fellow foodies.


Other things that happened to day:

-Found this cthulhu-like creature creeping on my cranberry beans

-My "senior" potteds were moved under the canopy... I have a "plant-sitter" coming for my orchids/mail/garden everyday. My friend Matt is a great kid...we are trading $10 a day for all that care...+ one homecooked dinner...worth it? Indeed, you haven't seen the ones in the ground...

-Dusted my "treasures table...I do enjoy a nice clean spot o treasures.

I hope you had a fab day as well....even if it just turned around in the last inning....

~m

Pt.1

 Well, it has been quite awhile. Whew. A whirlwind of a series of events...some fortunate, others un-. a lot of gapping in a typing timeline but, alot of living away from the screen in-between. Recent events have been shaping up better than most positive tarot readings (though they pop up like wispy crystal ball readings) . In the further past (or more reasonably, the 'year' marker ) I would like to do these things:

 

- Gardening:
  I study, work with, have at home companionship with, feed, love, medicate and take care of animals....in short, because I am entranced by them. I have: 2 feline co-habitators and 1 lovely dingo wingman sharing my commonspace. One thing we all agree on, we LOVE our plants. Indoors or out (though the human residents favor the 'edible') we all peek at, inspect, and sniff the greenery each time we pass..I adore North Carolina's moody weather, extended growing season, and beautiful eco-systems. Our sandy lot provided a lot of challenges to micro-mini-farming....composting and mulching and dutied work at french dug beds and well planned pots have been a great joy.

 To be continued...
m