Posts Tagged ‘summer’

The Last Taste of Summer

Posted on September 13th, 2011 by Tonia 2 Comments

Summer hung on this week and gave us seven whole days of beautiful blue skies, sunshine, low humidity, and perfect temperatures. Mike and I spent a GORGEOUS morning at the beach on Sunday. Iced coffee, Charlie chasing sticks into the water, Mike reading to me, dried tomatoes and olive oil on French bread. I kept thinking, “This might be the last time we do this this year.”

But, in addition to providing us with one last beach day, this week was also the final kick in the pants for any crops in the garden that need a slightly longer growing season…namely, the melons and the Brandywine tomatoes.

Melons are tricky to grow up here, simply because they take so long to ripen. But yesterday we cracked two of them open and let the sugary, warm flesh melt on our tongues. This puppy has been baking in its little oven of vines and leaves since early June. Delicious.

If any of you are eating your melons right now, too, may I recommend them sliced into little boats with the husk removed and wrapped with prosciutto? A salty-sweet dream-come-true.

The Brandywines on the other hand are largely still green or a sickly shade of orange-green. We’re rooting for them to turn the corner to fully ripe before the weather turns the corner to fully autumn, but it’s a very close race.

Thankfully, most of the other tomato varieties {including the gorgeous little rubies pictured} have long since ripened, been picked, and dried or frozen or consumed fresh. Ohhhh fresh tomatoes, I will miss thee. Thanks for being so awesome this year.

Our friends are going to show us how to save seeds from our tomato plants so we can plant our favorites again next spring {some of the varieties were brought home from Italy with my dad, so they’re special and can’t be found in a regular U.S. seed catalog.} I’m going to try to document the lesson, because I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been wanting to know how to save seeds. Granted, the process is different depending on the type of plant you’re saving from, but we’ll get you started at least.

What end-of-summer gems are coming out of your garden right now?

A Family of Photogenically Impaired Individuals

Posted on September 10th, 2011 by Tonia 1 Comment

I promised you photos from our week at “Woodchuck” a loooong time ago, didn’t I? Shoot. Well, at least I didn’t wait until the middle of winter to write this post…when you’re shivering in your long-johns in January, nothing is more irksome than seeing someone’s summery photographs with their smug sun-flares and their tan, freckled, happy faces. Amiright? So let’s get this over with before it snows, shall we?

A HEADS UP: As I looked back at these photos, one thing became clear: My family is incapable of taking attractive photographs. We’re really not that awful-looking in real life, I swear! But somehow we managed to go a whole week without capturing a normal picture of any of us. See for yourself.

My brother and his girlfriend enjoying lunch on the front porch.
{Top} Mike and his reading buddy, enjoying coffee on the porch in the early morning.
{Bottom} The fathskie, reclining.
A dip in the lake.
Fresh grilled corn.
Charlie indulging his two loves: sunshine, sticks.
A night-time pontoon-boat ride complete with star-gazing and music-playing.
This next series is especially disturbing…
Why is Mike way over there?
Crud, Danny blinked. Let’s try again…
Ugh! Mike!!
Tonia!! OMG! One more try…
I’m serious you guys, knock it off!
FINALLY!!  I need a drink.
Canoeing and fishing.
Nature hikes.
Scavenging for mushrooms.
Velociraptor attacks.

Morning coffee on the porch….with a friend.
Making spaghetti sauce.
The whole famn damily.

 

Ohhhhh boy. That was fun. The cabin is definitely one of my favorite places on this planet. So many memories have been made there over the years with our family, immediate and extended.

Clearly, Mike and I lucked out in the family department. BOTH our families are kick-ass {apologies for the curse word. I only do it when absolutely necessary, you know.} His, however, might be slightly more photogenic… ;)

And now, thanks to these photos, I am officially missing summer.

Late-August Garden Treats

Posted on August 29th, 2011 by Tonia 7 Comments

These are the sorts of things that have been coming out of our garden recently. They have inspired a bunch of great meals.

I’m afraid we’re getting really, really spoiled with all these fresh-from-the-ground tastes, and it’s about to be a long, hard winter without them.

I already made and froze a bunch of pesto from our basil, and we’re going to have enough tomatoes to preserve as well, but there’s nothing like just-picked basil garnishing raw tomatoes on a slice of grainy bread.

And the peas. Crunchy, sweet, delightful peas! I spent an hour the other day plucking them off the vine, cracking them open and alternating popping them in my mouth and tossing them to the chickens; one for me, one for you, one for me, one for…

Those red peppers might look like harmless sweet little bell peppers, but holycow no they are not. They’re spicy little Italian peppers!! They pack just the right amount of punch to liven up sauces, soups, stir fries, and more.

Blueberries- not from our own garden but from one nearby- that burst in your mouth with a flavor that can only be described as sunshine in berry form.

I will miss them like this: fresh, with maple syrup and Greek yogurt on our hot-cereal every morning. This is how we always start the day.

But at least we are prepared with bags of frozen ones already piled high in our freezer for the winter. Bleeeehck! Let’s not say the W-word again for a long while! It’s still summer, it’s still summer, it’s still summer.

Every night is a new culinary adventure- usually enjoyed on the porch with the stars overhead and the owls hooting through the trees. After a long day of work, food tastes so good.

Last night I had a craving for something savory and nutty to pair with our sweet tomatoes. I found a generic tarte crust recipe and substituted regular flour for almond flour, and added diced rosemary to it.

I blended up some quick pesto, sliced up the tomatoes, and loaded the tarte crust up with both. It got topped off with chunks of fresh mozzarella before going in the oven {I broiled it at the end to get the mozz bubbly and brown}. The extra pesto got frozen along with the rest of my stash.

Mmmmmm! It was perfect- exactly what I wanted. We gobbled it down before I could snap a photo of it, so you’ll just have to trust me that it was a handsome meal and very flavorful. Here’s what I did for the crust:

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine the almond flour, salt, and rosemary in a bowl. Whisk together the grapeseed oil and water in another bowl. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Press the dough into a 9-inch tarte pan.

Bake for 15 min or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 30 minutes. Place in the fridge for about 45 minutes {this helps them come out of the tarte pans easier, without crumbling}. Remove tarte crust fridge, top with pesto, tomatoes or whatever your heart desires. Bake under the broiler until golden- watch the edges of the crust so it doesn’t get too brown. You can cover the edges with tinfoil if necessary. Serve warm with a salad of fresh greens.

What’s on your summer menu?

Apple Eater

Posted on August 26th, 2011 by Tonia No Comments

Our trees are loaded down with crispy, juicy apples. They’re not all the way ripe, but they’re far enough along to start eating for anyone who doesn’t mind a little tartness.

We bought an apple press with our neighbors and the four of us have big cider-making aspirations for the month of October. These are the things that make the end of summer a little less bitter, a little sweeter.

Something inspires the only cow of late

To make no more of a wall than an open gate,

And think no more of wall-builders than fools.

Her face is flecked with pomace and she drools

A cider syrup. Having tasted fruit,

She scorns a pasture withering to the root.

She runs from tree to tree where lie and sweeten.

The windfalls spiked with stubble and worm-eaten.

She leaves them bitten when she has to fly.

She bellows on a knoll against the sky.

Her udder shrivels and the milk goes dry.

-The Cow in Apple Time by Robert Frost

The Official Taste-Tester has been hard at work. He calls it quality control.

Some of them are red, some yellow, some green, and some a mottled mixture of all three.

Some of them are a wild variety, and some of them were planted a long time ago by the other people who lived and loved this place. Thanks, other people.

Have a great weekend!

P.S. I am running off to a friend’s wedding in Minnesota today, so perhaps you will forgive me for not posting the Dear T&M as promised {nor posting the cabin photos…..aakk! My excuse there is that my mother hasn’t sent them to me yet. I used her camera the whole time we were there because Mike needed ours left set up at home for a photo shoot we were in the middle of for a client.} Next week!!