Dandy salad

Yesterday I harvested the small dandelions growing in our yard. I didn't realize until I was working at it that the nice rain we had overnight was making it very easy to pry my screwdriver-like tool into the base of the plant and pull it out. I shook off the dirt and collected about a quart sized baggie of plants. Inside I cut the roots off and put the greens and any small unopened buds into the salad spinner with a teaspoon of vinegar (standard veggie washing procedure here) and swished thru,
picking out any grass etc. After rinsing and spinning I put the greens into the fridge to crisp up a bit. For dinner I had a bed of lightly dressed greens with a salmon filet on top. Very good! Pricey mesclun mix contains dandelion greens and so I had a 'gourmet' meal for a frugal cost. Bonus: the American side of me liked the fast that I "weeded" the yard while the Eurochic side enjoyed the foraging/frugal/healthy benefits!

Potager Prizes redux

Here is an old draft I forgot to post in August.

My garden bounty of zucchini and tomatoes has brought me much closer to these 2 vegetables. We've eaten much of the zucchini, picked very small, raw with hummus or sauteed in omelets.

Now we've graduated to large, diagonally sliced discs which I've dredged in salted and peppered flour and fried in canola or roasted with olive oil and coarse sea salt, maybe some onions in there too, or thinly sliced potato. All you need is a piece of good bread, maybe some cheese, a glass of wine and what a delicious meal. I've consumed the tomatoes raw in salsa tossed with roasted peppers and garlic and onion. Or roasted in oil and salt and slipped from their skins, what a joy. Of course chopped and mixed with creamy mozzarella, evoo and Italian spices. It's hard to even graduate to a pizza or a pasta recipe when you can create such heaven so easily, but of course we have.
Roasting is unbelievable in the way it concentrates flavors and sugars in the vegetables. I've roasted lots of these freshly picked jewels and, resting in the freezer, they wait their turn.

Potager Prizes

My petite jardin has been producing prolifically. First, the golden raspberries and now this selection of tomatoes, most of these fell from the vines and are ripening. Have been eating zucchini, green beans and cukes, picked daily. Some green peppers, picked relatively small, we just couldn't wait. The other day: homemade pizza dough topped with those peppers and chopped cherry tomatoes - freshest pizza ever.
bon appetit!

L'ete arrive!

I feel the need to check in with my 'diary' to clarify and sort of quantify, perhaps
to reinforce a bit as well - my purpose in blogging: to add daily to my life by being more aware, more genuine, real, euro inspired in some ways. Blogging is time consuming!
I spend my days trying to 'get ahead' which right there sounds negative. The process is the real thing. Remember that Laura.
Alors, I am loving my potager so much. We have harvested exactly 27 haricot verts. The one sprouted onion I planted has rendered lots of greens for stir fry and roatsted red potatos with oregano and thyme. The tomatos are covered with blossoms and shiny, green balls - soon to be sugar sweet cherrys, and romas and early girls...and the zuchini! well, get your recipes ready. I just layed out some strips of rags lightly soaked in ammonia. Supposed to keep the critters away and a ground hog, I believe, was munching on a hungarian pepper plant. The watermelon vine is a runaway:)
A good day ends with lots of compost in the (tightly covered) pot by the kitchen sink. Starting with coffee grinds, eggshells and fruit ends and accumulating all
day long it's magical ingredients, the pot is emptyed after the evening meal into the compost pile behind the garage. This simple endeavor has been so satisfying over the years - providing wonderful soil for garden and potted plants AND providing a
place to recycle uneaten food.
Been cycling a lot. Today to the library to work, uninterrupted for 2 hours on the computer. Love it.
Soon the long awaited oil cleansing method experiment will start, I promise. I am working thru untold meager amounts of accumulated Vit E oil and Ponds Cold Cream etc
I do have a nice tan going. I am not an extremeist either way per the sun. But I need me some, especially on my legs.
La mode is doing pretty nicely this summer so far. Tomorrow my easy linen capris are
ready from the tailor. I'll drop my denim pencil skirt off. I'm going to repair my
Land's End red leather sandals with my wonderfully heavy weight sewing machine (I hope) - it's just a seam, but threatening their life. I can always hit the cobbler if I can't do it. Oh - had my eye exam and had my lenses put in some 'cheaters' that I had and loved. They are smashing - a light weight green metal conconction that always garners a 'love your glasses' - did the same with my Jackie O sunglasses, except specialized as bifocals - again terrific results.
bisous - I had a splendid birthday week, I'm a summer baby born on the longest day of the year and was wined and dined into not so sleek, but heavenly shape.
La

Informed Produce Shopping

Happy Monday!
Here is some information that I found to be interesting. It concerns genetically modified, organic and conventionally grown produce and how to tell the difference
between them, easily.
Hopefully we will all be buying from the farms this time of year (or growing our own, my garden is doing very well so far), but if not, I hope you find this tip
helpful.



PLU (Price Look Up) codes are four or five number codes that bring up the price of each item. Within these codes is information about the food itself.

If the code number (you can see it on the label or price tag) is four numbers, the product was grown conventionally.

If the code is made up of five numbers, the product is either organic or genetically modified. An organic product code starts with the number 9, while a genetically modified product code starts with the number 8. Never buy a product (unless it's at a farmer's market or direct farm to consumer) without a PLU code so you know what you are buying.

La

My deck and patio are coming alive

One of my favorite places on earth. I have roses that I've grown from infancy and brass doors that I've lugged from Toronto and privacy. It is a sanctuary of sorts, a garden, a meal setting, a party haven. The peonies popped up 8" almost overnight.
My daffodils and tulips (from the front of the house) are done. They were pretty.

Yesterday I just had to get my red geraniums. Visually they scream "Paris". Red geraniums, like red polish on my toes, are a no brainer for my style. They'll go in some pots for the deck and in the front garden to round out the
veggie plants I'll be putting in. Did you know it is very easy to 'save' geraniums
over the winter in an attached garage or cool basement area?
My flower and veg gardens are going to be integrated this year to take advantage
of our best sun for the veggies, which can make do in the back but really thrive in the S/West exposure in the front.
Perhaps I'll post more pics as the season progresses.

Mark Bittman's NY Times article - Recessionista: The 2009 Kitchen Primer

Here is the link to Mark Bittman's NY Times article about
updating your kitchen pantry: http://tinyurl.com/77ojmy.
As I read thru the list, I plan to add more dried beans, homemade
salad dressings (I have lots of great recipes, but the kids have
different ideas about Ranch, for example), grains, frozen
veggies, sweet potatoes and spinach. There is a chance that we
will grow the spinach in our upcoming garden(s) and the beans as
well. I did grow and dry some beans a few years back, but the Recessionista
will make more of an effort to draw a decent yield. She must get
started on seed selection and sprouting etc. We'd like beans to eat
raw, umm like snow peas, and some to save for adding to
our pasta fagoli all winter long.