C'mon Spring!

This morning when we woke up, it was snowing...

Yesterday--it was very cold and grey--all day long...

I was curious about this time last year, 

so I checked my blog and almost exactly to the day:

I had posted a very different scenario.. 

I called last year's post...Signs of Spring--sounds nice, doesn't it?

See here for last year's SIGNS OF SPRING blog post.

Last year, the week's forecast for this time was a string of 70 degree sunny days..

This year--the forecast for this week is 40s/50s and rain..

(I promise, I am not complaining...just noting the difference with interest...)

Signs of Spring this year?  

Well, the crocus are up, that is true--

and I did make coconut macaroons this weekend...

Coconut macaroons and crocus are the harbingers of Spring, right?

But when the kids played outside last year--they were in shorts.

This year: they were hanging out in their coats...

They are soo sick of their coats...
and while we wait for the the daffodils to bloom...

I crochet granny squares.

 Lots and lots of granny squares..

I started like four years ago, before we moved East, to make a blanket for Magda. 

I put them down a long time ago and have only recently picked them back up again...

They kind of look like Spring, a bit...so maybe they can be this year's Sign of Spring...

And the good news is--after I crochet 3 more--

I...WILL...BE...HALF...WAY...DONE!

Only 59 more to go...should only take about 4 more years or so...

And since it was cold and grey yesterday, 

(a cold and grey spring day always reminds me of when Greg and I went to Italy..) 

I was kind of in the mood for a nice Tuscan minestrone...

I found this recipe and spent a cozy afternoon making a batch

 that we enjoyed with some grilled bread and a nice 

bottle of merlot...

Spring is just around the corner...right??

This recipe is really, really good and would be delish on any grey and rainy Sunday!

Hopefully there won't be too many more of those Sundays in the near future...

Happy Almost Spring!

Late Summer Gardening

 We planted some perennials this weekend that we bought on sale at our local nursery.

We are taking it slow, planting new bed by new bed, as we can...my hope is to cover the whole front yard in flowers, herbs and lovely leafy greens...kind of like an English Garden with edibles!

I'm not a big fan of grass--I'd rather have habitat for bees and butterflies.

The plants all look so small!!

But I am sore today with all the digging and soil-amending we did.  Picture: shovels and a pickaxe!

Our back yard compost pile (that I basically just kind of ignore) turned out to be amazing
and I used all we had to help enrich the soil.

Love the thought of last season's veg scraps feeding my flowers today!

We planted native plants like yarrow, echinacea, salvia and cat mint...

Will probably make adjustments to bed next Spring to make things fit better
and will get more filler plants like herbs and shrubs..but for now, its a good start!

Looking forward to when these plants get so established
that we can actually split them up and plant the newly divided plants into more beds...

An actual landscape professional was driving down our street and he stopped to admire our work...

I told him we basically didn't really know what we are doing--but that we had a general idea and we know what plants we like.  

He said we were totally on the right track and he loved our choices of these BOLD plants..

Bold, I thought...I like that!  

Summer Squash Recipe

I am going to call it foresight...I think Greg would use a different word altogether, but whatever it is...lets just say I had A LOT of it when I planted a teeny-tiny Italian yellow squash plant last spring...

That little guy has basically taken over my garden and in the process--yielded many MANY offspring--so much so that we are having a hard time keep up with the summer squash bounty.

But instead of being overwhelmed by the deluge, we are just eating A LOT of yellow squash--which is not such a terrible thing especially since there a loads of good recipes out there.

And the best recipe I found so far this summer is one for a light & healthy salad--

works well with zucchini too.

Its basically like a squash carpaccio.

Its pretty simple...

first, I make thyme-infused oil for the dressing 

by steeping a bunch of thyme in some olive oil on the stove. 

Heat oil until bubbles appear; add thyme...turn off heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

Next, grab whatever zucchini or (in my case) yellow squash you have lying around

6-8 small squash total--baby squash is better; thinly sliced with either mandolin or veg peeler

(remove some outer skin and stop when you get to seeds--should have long wide swipes)

6 squash blossoms

about a cup of cherry tomatoes halved or small tomatoes sliced

about 1/3 cup, more or less, of fresh ricotta

1/4 fresh basil leaves or mint leave or combo of both, torn

one lemon, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Arrange squash strips on platter, top with squash blossoms, dollops of ricotta, tomatoes, herbs, s+p and

red pepper flakes...drizzle with thyme oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice...

So summery, fresh, healthy and satisfying...

Its kind of amazing, really--this bounty of summer!

The Garden of 2012

For the last couple weeks, 

I have been working on getting our garden plot ready:

 getting the soil amended and our brand new, baby plants in the ground...

This weekend was the final push to getting it all done.  

A couple weekends ago, I made these planter beds.  

Very easy...I went to Home Depot with the kids and we asked the nice lumber guy for help. 

He cut the wood down to size and showed me what brackets and screws to get.

Greg widened the walk ways he put in last year
with one more row of bricks to make for a bit more room.

I wanted to just be simple this year...herbs and flowers; 

tomatoes, summer squash & cucumbers...

lettuce, strawberries and red peppers. 

 Magda LOVES red peppers.

We'll do the tomatoes like last year...

twisting heirloom indeterminate varieties around a string trellis.

Watching them grow up, up, up.

Magda planted some nasturtium seeds in a pot...

and our pretty violet pansies left over from Easter...

and I think all I have to do now, for a little while anyway... is water, weed and watch.

Occasionally, we stopped to take a break from all the planting and gardening.
Magda found these breaks the perfect opportunity to practice her signature move:

Jump roping, backwards...with her eyes closed...on one leg...

Luca thinks it's pretty awesome.

Made for a pretty great weekend...

I got nothin'

For the first time, in a long time --I am totally, totally without something to post about what I made or cooked or did-I got nothing and I don't even have a really good reason for why not...

But I do have some very good excuses...

Last week was one of the more difficult day-job work weeks I've had--ever.  I barely managed to limp across the Friday night finish line...so I was and am still feeling just a little wiped out from that.

And then, what really didn't help matters was that, at dinner with our neighbors Saturday night, I had one too many cocktails (or was it one too many bottles of wine, I forget) and woke up...maybe better to say...regained consciousness --Sunday morning, feeling like my head had been run over by a mack truck, slammed against a wall and then run over by that damn truck again, but in reverse.  I have only myself to blame...and I blame it on that cleanse I did--lowering my tolerance!

Sunday was not pretty and lets just say "productive" was not the word of the day.  I didn't cook/bake anything especially delicious, I sure as hell didn't do any crafts...I did try to take a few decent photos, but that, I am sure, is debatable...

My husband, on the other hand, has almost finished making a verra bonny wee walk way for the front of our house!

(If you can't tell I am reading a historical fiction novel that takes place in 18th century Scotland...)

All weekend I kept calling to Luca...

Ye wee heathen!

Or I would say to Magda...

My fine bonny wee lass....

They just rolled their eyes and asked me why I was still lying on the couch...Aye!
But I digress...my point is: all I could really do this weekend was read...)

Greg, started the walk way during his spring break and has made such tremendous progress...the walk way is so beautiful,  he did it all HIMSELF and I just totally, totally love it...and as usual, am so impressed with Greg that he figured this out all by himself...pretty amazing...The before and after photos:

ok, this shot above, was in the very beginning...so that's what our front yard looked like 3 weeks ago, with Greg laying down the pavers to just see what possible options for a walk way to the street and to the side drive way would look like.

and this is what it looks like now..its not done, aye, but its verra close...

 

Lovely, isn't it? 

Hell of lot better than anything I did this weekend...