The baby boy asked for a special treat

Tags

butter, chives, French bread, postaday2013, salmon, writing

Today being Friday, it was weight class day and the ladies were in rare form. I don’t know what put those bees in their bonnets but they were a swarming, the ladies were lashing out about corrupt politicians, cheating politicians, ineffectual politicians and so on. I kept my mouth zipped tight, I just led the class with our exercises and hoped for a change in the subject. I believe in letting them blow off their steam because perhaps they can’t do it at home. I was happy when it was over because I had food shopping to do once I dropped my friend off at her home. But first I headed home to get my list and take Jack for his walk, also eat something before I hit the supermarket, the worst thing that you can do to yourself and to your wallet is to go food shopping when you are really hungry.

The baby boy asked for rillettes de saumon, in English it would be a salmon spread. Rillettes is usually associated with meat and the meat is cooked in its own fat, diced until it is a homogeneous mixture, like a pate and spread on a good French bread. The basic idea to rillette lends itself this recipe where the salmon is blended with a fat after it is cooked by poaching and smoking, in this case it’s butter and both salmons are cooked in different ways but it all works well together and it is one of the baby boy’s favorite things to eat. Throw in a little salt and pepper with a nice amount of chives and lemon juice to give it a little zing and you have a wonderful hors d’oeuvres or canape. I think that when the baby boy comes home from work, he will be happy.

Frittata is the treat of the day

Tags

broccoli, chives, frittata, postaday2013, potatoes, wild strawberries

I was outside today taking care of the pool and the water situation and for some unknown reason I felt compelled to check to see if I had any wild strawberries growing and lo and behold, this is so exciting, I had at least three wild strawberries growing. It doesn’t take much to get me excited about nature. I’m even allergic to strawberries, but it doesn’t matter, I have organic strawberries growing in my garden around the pool. How good is that?

After I was done with the pool and my picture taking, I decided to make a potato, chive and garlic frittata. I think that frittata has become one of my favorite things to make, it is so easy and so delicious with minimal ingredients. I diced up four medium potatoes and sautéed them until they were golden and took them out of the pan and onto a paper towel. I preheated the oven to 350 and minced garlic which got thrown into an oven proof pan with olive oil. While that was on the heat, I cracked and whisked seven eggs together , added salt and pepper and threw them into the pan with the garlic. I added sliced chives that I got from my garden and then I added the sautéed potatoes. When the eggs were set on the bottom, I put the pan in the oven for about five minutes and I inverted the frittata onto a plate.

I made broccoli for myself, sautéed with garlic and olive oil, salt and pepper. I love broccoli, it’s filling and delicious.

A gardener’s impatience

Tags

blooms, chives, Gardening, postaday2013, sprouts

Spring is technically here but living in the hill towns, we are in limbo. It gets so frustrating going down to Westfield, down the mountain into the valley and see tulips, daffodils and hyacinths in bloom and coming back home and seeing little tiny shoots of green and that is it. The only thing to do right now in the garden is to rake all of the excess mulch and old leaves out of the garden beds. I’ll confess right now that doing this is definitely not one of my top ten things to do in the garden, especially when it is tedious work and not much to show after it is done, just more waiting for plants to wake up from their long winter sleep.

I know that I am complaining but I think that I am going stir crazy with the long winter, it feels as if there is a huge thirst for color and greenery after way too much white and grey on the landscape for months on end. The spring palette is so vibrant; full of pinks, blues, yellow and violet. I can’t wait to see the landscape awash in all those colors.