What's Outside My Kitchen Window & Assorted Other Stuff

I'm tired today after being up in the middle of the night cleaning up after an exploded wine bottle (see this post for a complete explanation).

But, I'm here on Wednesday, albeit a little later than usual, to show you what's outside my kitchen window and to actually share some food stuff ~ oh, how long has it been? Since April? Inexcusable.

Let's start with the view. The pond is coming along nicely. The one water lily has come and gone, but the rest of the plants are starting to bloom extremely well...

My goldfish survived the winter and are fat and sassy this year...



Tom's blackberries are showing signs of changing color. Another month and they will be ready to use in a nice cobbler...



The squash are doing okay. They have lots of leaves and flowers, but the squash that set just shriveled up because of all the rain. I think it has rained every day for nearly a month, but I could be slightly exaggerating.



I am hoping these babies grow into big, or just bigger, zucchini...



And, it looks like my basil is winning the battle of the bugs. It still has a few holes, but it refuses to be intimidated and give in to the chomping...



I finally have a few daylillies with more ready to bloom...



and there are just a few of those wonderfully fragrant honeysuckle blossoms hanging on...



Sadly, I am a shallow woman who cares about appearances, so this skanky looking 3-year-old mint is doomed for the yard waste recycling bin and will be replaced by the younger, lovelier Lily of the Nile. I mean, hellooo, she's just eye candy!



Last but not least, I have failed to post photos of our spa. Technically, it is not in my line of sight outside my kitchen window. But, I'm not an attorney so technicalities mean nothing to me. We had the spa delivered as soon as the new patio and patio roof were finished just about two years ago. One of our friends built the stairs around it. I hung curtains on either side for privacy (yes, don't gag, but I've been known to enjoy the warm massaging waters in the buff). Tom just recently made a stand for the two rhododendrons which had been taking up space around the table on the patio. It was Tom's idea to surround the spa with the foliage. I think it was a good one.



For more Kitchen Window Wednesday, visit Debbie @ The Friday Friends. Debbie started and promotes Kitchen Window Wednesday.

You might also want to take a look at Karen's garden @ Karen Cooks. She's going to have one fine garden!

So, now to the ever lingering question...What have we been eating? We've been eating light. It's been raining a lot, which means higher humidity. Who wants to eat heavy when the air is heavy? Not me. So last Saturday, after we took our son to the airport we stopped to pick up some brie and fruit. First, Tom baked some bread rounds that had been brushed with olive oil. Then I cut up some fresh pineapple and an apple and arranged it on a plate with some seedless grapes. We baked the brie in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes until it was just barely bubbly around the edges. All that and a glass of cold Riesling. It was heaven...



This past Sunday we still felt like just nibbling and made an antipasto tray ~ mortadella, cappicola, mozzarella, provolone, sliced tomatoes, steamed asparagus and assorted stuffed olives.



I also love salads and one of my favorites is Cobb Salad...



The ingredients are simple: On a bed of lettuce (I use romaine hearts because I like the crunch) I lay in sections diced, poached chicken; diced tomato or halved cherry tomatoes; diced avocado; 2 to 3 chopped hard-boiled eggs; 4 to 5 sliced of crisp cooked bacon, crumbled; 4 or 5 sliced green onions. Authentic Cobb Salad also calls for crumbled blue cheese, but I usually leave that out because I think it sometimes tends to overpower the other ingredients. Just before dressing and serving, I sprinkle the top with a couple of sliced radishes for a little more crunch.

When we are ready to eat, I pour just enough of the dressing over the salad to barely moisten it, toss it altogether and serve. This vinaigrette just makes the salad.



Cobb Salad Dressing
by Terri Powers for Terri's Table

1 egg yolk
2 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (although I've also used cider vinegar with fine results)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
3 teaspoons garlic powder
3 teaspoons onion powder
3 teaspoons ground dry mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

With a whisk or in your food processor, whip up the egg yolk until light and a little fluffy. Slowly add the oil to the egg whisking constantly until completely combined. Then add the rest of the ingredients, one at a time, whisking the mixture to combine. Chill slightly.

Note: You can leave out the raw egg if it gives you the heebie-jeebies, but the texture will be slightly different and the dressing will tend to separate.

It's Wednesday and What's Outside My Kitchen Window?

The week is going fast. Last week went even faster. I don't think I've shared a recipe since the end of April, so I hope I do much better this week.

Almost two years ago, we purchased a small house to "flip" (you know, renovate and then sell for a profit). How did we know the market would take a dive. We finally sold it (nope, didn't make a profit) and closed escrow on Monday. That afternoon I bought a new camera, a Nikon D60. I have never used anything more complicated than a point-and-shoot, so my photos may not even be any better with a better camera, but be patient with me. I think the photos this morning are better than they have been, but it just could be that it's sunny instead of cloudy and dreary.

So, the rain has finally stopped. It's been sunny since last Sunday. Cooler, but sunny still. And with the sun, my flowers and plant are finally starting to emerge and grow.

The anticipation is over. Yes, here she is in all her glory. My first water lily of the season...



And her pond sisters are starting to bloom, as well...



They all seem to thrive sharing the small space with the six goldfish...



I love that pond and I'm so glad Tom put it in last year. I also love the pergola Tom built. It is two years old this spring and the wisteria is nearly covering the entire top portion. And, since I found my Buddhist monk with his begging bowl and the Gregorian windchime, it is my favorite place to sit in the evening as the sun is going down...



As for my garden...well, my poor basil is still standing, but sadly has become a bug buffet...



but I am resisting using any pesticides because I have a nice bunch of three different kinds of basil growing in a pot on the patio and I believe in sharing, oh yeah, and not using poison...



I've planted dill three times so far and twice they have all drowned from too much rain, but, finally, I have dill to use for cooking, along with Texas tarragon and thyme...



Although my potted sage plant seems pretty happy, this third year will probably be it's last...



I have blossoms on my tomatoes although they are still a little puny from the cold and rain, but the squash is doing well and I will be looking for little tiny zucchini in the next week...



The herbs in my garden are thriving, particularly the chives and oregano. I've used some of the Italian parsley, but it's still small. But the rosemary is completely out of control and desperately needs some TLC. I'll have to get to that this week!



I will leave you with one more photo...a full view of the pond and surrounding yard. It's not as green as we'd like it yet...too much rain, too many weeds, not enough grass, but it takes time. We've only been in this house since October of 2006, not quite 3 years. When we moved in, there was nothing in the back yard at all...literally nothing...except the shed and an 8 X 8 concrete slab patio outside the back door. There wasn't a tree or shrub or flower anywhere, just a lawn which consisted of mostly weeds and a little Bermuda grass. I think we've done pretty well for such a short period of time...



For more Kitchen Window Wednesday, visit Debbie @ The Friday Friends. Debbie started and promotes Kitchen Window Wednesday.

You might also want to take a look at Karen's garden @ Karen Cooks. The girl is seriously going to have a fine garden!

The only sure thing about luck is that it will change. ~ Wilson Mizner

I am hoping that is true because I've had a string of bad cooking luck lately and I would like for it to change.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a blog post for recipe for Banana Chocolate Cake. It looked great and I had some bananas on the verge, so I made it. I wound up throwing it away. It was like eating a sponge.

Then we found a source (foodies have "sources" in Arkansas because we have to) for soft shell crabs so we could make my favorite dish from Mike's Place, Tilapia Ponchetrain.



It wasn't quite as good as Mike's (too much corn meal, I think), but we have a freezer full of soft shell crabs.

For Easter, I bake a wonderful Orange Dreamsicle Cake. I got the recipe from Alison's blog, Someone's in the Kitchen. It turned out really good, even though I couldn't find the Orange Supreme cake mix and had to improvise. But the only photo I got was this one...



The last lonely piece of cake taken with a camera that was on the fritz. GRRRR! And, it was a beautiful cake, too.

A couple of weeks ago, while folding laundry, I was watching Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network and caught the end of a dessert she was preparing, Couer a la Creme. I looked up the recipe and was so disappointed when I learned it was made primarily with cream cheese. Now, I'm not a cream cheese lover. I don't even like cheese cake all that much, so I scoured the internet for another recipe that called for ricotta cheese. I used the lemon zest and vanilla bean just as Ina's recipe called for and I also made her Raspberry Sauce (which was out-of-this-world delicious). But, the Couer a la Creme...well, that is another story...which began with my quest to find a Couer a la Creme mold (Huh? was the most common response to my inquiries) and ended with using these small plastic colanders I finally found at Target...

The final result tasted good, but the texture was just too soft.



Then there was my Italian Cheese Bread. It is delicious, but the photo is so washed out that the color resembles my white thighs in the winter. Ick!



And, finally, the Thai Seafood Chowder I got from the Bon Appetit website. I spent $13 on scallops. We couldn't find mussels, so we bought clams (another $10). And I used about $6 worth of shrimp. I had never ventured much into Thai cuisine and used only minute amounts of Thai green curry paste in other dishes, but I was willing to give the 6 TABLESPOONS!!! the recipe called for a good ole college try. I tasted the broth as I was cooking and it was so hot and spicy that I added an additional can of coconut milk to cool it down some, but it was still too hot.



Neither Tom or I could tolerate the level of heat. We threw the chowder away and Tom went to Shorty Small's for burgers.

So what's next? Well, I have made a couple of things that turned out great which I will post at another time, but a little culinary good luck would be in order, don't you think?

It's Wednesday and What's Outside My Kitchen Window?

I didn't post last Wednesday. In fact, I haven't posted much of anything since the end of April, except the Happy Mothers Day post.

It's been raining consistently since the end of April. As of last Friday, May 8th, we had received 10-1/2 inches of rain so far in May. That is a lot of rain. More rain is predicted through Saturday. In addition, the weather has cooled off considerably. I think the high yesterday was 64 degrees. It's warmer now at 8:00 am than it was at 3:00 pm yesterday.

But, I took photos last Wednesday and this morning, so... lucky you ... you get a two-fer... and we have a lot of ground (pun intended) to cover so let's get started.

The pergola is taking shape nicely. The wisteria is growing like crazy and the whole top of the pergola is nearly covered with the vines. But, I've made some changes to what's underneath.

I had been searching for a large, really nice, well-tuned wind chime and a couple of weeks ago I found a beautiful Gregorian Baritone wind chime. You can hear a sample audio of the chime here. It arrived last Friday.

Around the same time two weeks ago, I received a flyer in the mail from Pier 1 advertising a sale on glassware (did I ever mention I have an obsession with all sorts of dishware?), so I took a trip to the store.

As I was meandering through the store, as I often do, I saw this statue of a Buddhist monk holding out his begging bowl. I fell in love with it, stroked his head gently for a few moments, but I left the store without him. The next day I went back and bought him and we placed him under the center portion of the pergola (notice the puddle of water from our non-stop rain)....

And last Friday, when the wind chime arrived, Tom hung it over the statue and set the statue on some stones to raise him up off the ground, so now it looks like this...

The old worn out rattan chairs that were sitting where my monk is now perched were moved over under the trees where the bird and squirrel feeders hang...

Tom moved my porch swing from the patio...

to underneath the pergola...

...Aaahhhh, much better. We were able to relax there a couple of evenings after dinner when the rain subsided briefly.

So let's get on with the plants. Tom's Arapaho blackberries are doing extremely well.

Last week they looked like this...

This morning...

Daylillies last week..

and this morning...

By next week, I should have photos of the flowers.

The planter near the pond is doing well, but it looks like the nasturtium is going to be the dominant flower.

Last Wednesday...

and this morning...

Speaking of the pond, the plants are really growing.

Last week...

and this week...

A closer look at the plants in the pond and you will see a little something peeking up through the water. Yes, my friends, that is a water lily bud peeking through...









My garden is doing just okay. Insects are eating my basil and everything else is barely growing because of the continual rain, lack of sun and cooler temperatures. If I listen carefully as the sun goes down, I can hear the poor plants pleading, Help me. Help me. I'm drowning! And I feel so helpless!

Last week...

to this week...

Not much difference, but in anticipation of weather more conducive to gardening, I bought tomato cages anyway.



Yes, my dear readers, it has been a thoroughly wet, dreary, bleak, damp, totally yukky two weeks and the only person who seems not to notice is this guy.

Kermit was wrong. It apparently is not only easy being green, but downright pleasurable.





For more Kitchen Window Wednesday, visit Debbie @ The Friday Friends.