Dark days, good food...

It was another dark and dreary day here today.  The winds are gone - and I'm very happy to report we did not lose any shingles off of the roof.  The wind blew for a while from the direction that gave us a bit of grief before, but no new losses.  We MUST get a new roof this year.

The rain, on the other hand, has settled in and isn't going anywhere for a while.  It's one of those drizzly clouds that descends to ground surface and just SITS.  At least I knew in advance that the afternoon walk with the dog would be wet, unlike yesterday when I failed to outrun the incoming squall.  It's hard to get excited about going outdoors when it's so yucky out there.

It never got completely light today.

On the bright side, we do have a very good meal ahead!  Michael is making something that we haven't had since December of 2011!

Osso buco.  Here you can see how lovely it is, from the first time we ate it.  I was skeptical, as I had never had veal before.  I changed my mind real quick though!

Here's the recipe that Michael follows when he cooks it:  OSSO BUCO


That will brighten up the day!

Frankenzuke!

This is the 4th year for our backyard garden - it gets bigger and better every year.  I have half a mind to rent a tiller and dig up a big chunk so we can really go big next year.

Might have to anyways, what with rising food prices and all.  But I digress, sort of.

What I really wanted to talk about are the volunteer plants coming up this year, all over the garden!  I have a very unruly garden this year.

Plants of all sorts coming up randomly here and there!  Sunflowers, borage, snapdragons, feverfew, cosmos, potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins (I think), and squash!  IT'S A FREE FOR ALL!

Ahem.  Sorry, got a bit carried away for a minute.  These things happen when you have a sloppy compost pile.  I've threatened to leave a bit of the garden open next year just to see what comes up.  But back to the here and now, especially the squash plants.

Earlier in the season, I noticed several zucchiniesque plants coming up here and there in the garden.  I decided to let them go and see what kind of trouble they got up to.  Turns out, there's two kinds of trouble.  A couple of the plants have very distinct pumpkin characteristics - long snaking vines, tendrils wrapping around anything nearby... and one of the plants now has a small round yellowish fruit.  We'll see where that one goes.  Unfortunately, the other plant gets stepped on and bumped almost daily because of its location - if it can produce even one fruiting body I'll be thrilled.

But the others... they looked just like zucchini plants!  Just like them!  Until they didn't.

FRANKENZUKES!

And guess what - they tasted just like zucchinis.  We've eaten them twice, and they were just wonderful.  Michael made stuffed zucchini the other day, and tonight we had zucchini parmigiana.  NOM NOM NOM

In other news... Syd!

The weather has been decent, I'm ready for summer reading to be over, and I only work 10 days in September.  

I suppose I can't complain too much.

Good stuff!

One great thing about being married to a Brit is my introduction to some very tasty food.  Why people believe British food is bland is beyond me.  We recently began ordering food from the British Food Depot - a great source and not horribly expensive, either.  We could probably find some of these things in shops off the island, but since we rarely leave these days it makes more sense to buy online.  We've made two orders so far...

This all came about because the store we were buying malt vinegar from didn't have any.  They had every other type of vinegar you could imagine.  But no malt vinegar.

It turned out to be a good thing, because now we're getting all of the other tasty foods too!  Why we didn't do this sooner, I don't know.  As you can see, our first order was a bit timid - but the second time we ordered we meant business!  Ha.  I can only imagine what our next order will look like.  It will have many more boxes of marrowfat peas, that's for sure!

Michael made pea and ham soup for dinner this weekend, and it was scrumptious.  Nothing like split pea and ham soup, I'm told.  I'm not a fan of sp&h, and haven't tasted it since I was a kid - or maybe never!  It could be that I was disgusted by the look of it as a child that I've never let it pass my lips.  I'd probably like it now, especially if Michael made it.  But he won't, because he'll be making mushy peas and ham soup instead!

Yum!

Peek-a-boo

I see you - or maybe it's you see me. Haven't been around much, haven't been in the mood to blog. It seems like I'm starting to get the bug again though.

This is a good thing.

On the bright side, I've been very busy in the garden, and working. Summer has been a crazy time at the library - summer reading is always a bit insane. I'm very pleased to say that I have only one more work day until VACATION!

Whew.

I need it. Everybody asks, "where are you going?"

"NOWHERE!!!!!!"

And so glad for it. So glad. Not that it wouldn't be nice to take a trip somewhere, but traveling can be very stressful and tiring. This vacation is for relaxing - working in the gardening, doing some crafty projects, reading... things like that. My family will be visiting for a few days, but that's something to look forward to!


The garden will take up a lot of my time - it has been hugely successful so far. We've been eating veggies for weeks now! Zucchini, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes... such good stuff!



Michael has done an amazing job of keeping up with whatever is harvested. And the dishes he has cooked have been absolutely scrumptious! There will be more interesting things to come well into the fall and winter. Our parsley (with edible roots), parsnips, and turnips are just coming up now. And brussel sprouts. So much good stuff!

Well, bye now!


Pomegranates

Mark E. gardens too...

Bowling Ball