Hi Everyone,
Wow! Another very strong storm last night while I
was at yoga. (And yoga was fabulous –
only two of us in the class last night – just like a private lesson!!) Strong winds and 2” of rain within 30 minutes
or so. It cooled things off so well.
This morning
the air felt so refreshing. I was just
about to go out on the patio with my coffee when I noticed the mama doe and 3
(!!) spotted fawns in the yard. A number
of apples have fallen from our tree and they were busy cleaning up. I wish they would learn to chew with their
mouths shut though – lol. The fawns
stayed far enough away that I wasn’t able to get a clear shot of them with my
phone, but here is the mama:
We had such
a nice weekend. Grocery shopping
Saturday morning and then a pedicure in the early afternoon. Around 4 we headed up to Colin & Mailing’s
for dinner. What a feast! We had drinks and some appetizers first: deviled eggs, home-made roasted mixed nuts
with fresh rosemary and dried pepper flakes (so good!!), home-made salsa with
chips. I tried not to load up on that
because I wanted to eat dinner too.
Although not
vegetarians, both Colin and Mailing have cut way back on the amount of meat
they eat. Saturday’s dinner was
delicious and all home-made. We had tabouli
salad, falafel and baba ganoush. I was
too busy scarfing down the food to take any pictures. After dinner we took an hour and a half
walk. There are miles of walking trails
near where they live in Bucks County (I wish we had those where I live). When we got back to their place we had fresh
fruit salad for dessert. It was all so
refreshing.
We had
another strong storm on our way home – raining so hard you could barely see the
road (luckily Fletch was driving).
I spent most
of Sunday cooking. Fletch picked some
green beans from the garden and I pickled them.
Hopefully they are good because we’re going to try them tonight!
I didn’t do
such a great job of keeping the beans upright in the jar, but I’m more
interested in flavor than appearances – lol.
Then I
poached a roasting chicken, let it cool and made chicken salad for dinner. I saved all the bones, etc. to make stock
later.
Fletch had
also picked rhubarb and I made a rustic tart with the rhubarb, some
blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.
In between
the cooking I did manage to do a little bit of knitting on the 2nd
sock.
I don’t want
to jinx myself, but it seems to be going a little quicker than the first (thank
God).
Hoping
everyone is having a good week.
All of this food sounds and looks quite delicious! I was away last year when we had a lot of extra string beans, but gave John detailed instructions on how to blanch and freeze them. He did one small batch and then got lazy (he says creative) and threw the extra beans in with the 6 quarts of refrigerator pickles I had made. They did pickle and he says they didn't taste too bad. I bet yours will be much better done the right way!
ReplyDeletePlease tell me that you love Bloody Marys, because pickled green beans are so Perfect with a nice Bloody Mary.
ReplyDeleteOkay.
Your weekend sounds lovely, especially from a Food standpoint. We're eating a lot less meat, too--especially beef--at the Dept., much to Rick's chagrin. That meal you had sounds wonderful.
Is it just me, or are apples way early this year? All the trees around here are just loaded already, and dropping a ton.
Mmmmm! Your post is making me hungry! Sounds like a delicious weekend. :-)
ReplyDeleteDeer are one thing I don't get to see in my backyard now. :(
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the country though and they were a common sight. The neighbour beside us had a couple of acres and at least half of it was open meadow. Ages ago someone had planted an apple tree and a pair tree, but by the time we moved in, they'd gone wild. Once the fruit started to fall, you were almost guarenteed to see a deer or two there in the morning.
How I miss pickling veggies! Just curious - don't the green beans need to sit a week or two before opening? I was taught to let pickles be for a few weeks; perhaps, it was to teach me patience as I love pickles.
ReplyDeleteOh, that tart makes my heart sing!!! I was thinking of making one the other night with some apples I have. Now I think I will have to.
ReplyDeleteOooooo, my golly, ALL that food sounds so delicious. I'm reading it while eating my turkey/hummus pita that Steve made me. LOL
ReplyDeleteWhere in Bucks do Colin and Maling live? My parents used to live on the north end of Quakertown in a little town called Shelly. The drive up the backroads from my apartment in Bensalem to their house in Shelly was BEAUTIFUL especially in the fall.
We loved going to Indian Walk in the fall .....have you been?
yum.. looks and sounds delicious! but hummm, what's up with apples already?
ReplyDeleteI'm so impressed with your cooking results! The tart looks aMAYzing! How neat you captured the mother deer.. and three fawns! Sweet! Your visit to your friends sounds like it was very nice. I hope your week is a good one. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteI love when I'm having such a good time I forget to take photos. The food sounds so lovely!! Bucky county is such a pretty place - I have envy when I am visiting other places all the time but it's good to be back home.
ReplyDeleteI've never pickled a bean. Doesn't matter because I don't even have one on our plants. Big waste of time this year. For some reason, I feel the need to cook or bake something.
ReplyDeleteThe food looks great! Good progress on the second sock!
ReplyDelete