Sunday, July 11, 2010

Jack Johnson show last night. Good times.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Update in pictures

Sensing a theme here?

This is what I do when I should be working. Today I should be working working and packing if not that.

So anyway, you've seen the domestic bliss that was created when JG stormed the castle. In the aftermath, a Williams-Sonoma housewarming package showed up, and inside was this completely gratuitous yet necessary Tarte Tatin pan. I didn't have any apples, but what I did have was 4 lbs of Raspberries because HN's sister and I snuck out of work early and went berry picking.

I decided in the name of science that raspberry buttermilk upside down cake was in order.

I was so right.

Here are the berries simmering on the stove in the top of the pan.


This is a fancy clay pan and goes right on the flame.


Then once berries are done, pour cake batter on top and pop the whole thing into the oven. This is a big part of the appeal.


Flip, take a piece as big as my head, et voila!

Black raspberries might not photograph well but they ROCK MY WORLD.



THEN, JH#1 rolled on up and as we were trolling antique and junk stores on the avenue I tripped over this little beauty. It's a batik stamp, and I had JUST given up the dream when I found a small stash of them in Charlotte Elliot. I should have known.


Being a creature of impulse, and also having moral support to try something new in town I grabbed some rags, a couple of easy dye packets and got to it. Having JH#1 manning the google to counter any problems and egg me on was clutch.


Boiling out the wax kind of sucked it, but I used my giant canning pan, which doesnt have to be soo clean. HN's dad has a HUGE one at home that I have my eye on. His mom used to dye stuff and this is leftover of her supplies.


It came out nice, I wish I had done it on something other than a rag now. Oh well, I will. I have a big idea for this, but it will have to wait for my trip to pass.



My porch has been invaded by praying manti. I believe HN may have done this deliberately, but it's ok as you can see they are making themselves useful.


THEN JH#1 and I (and this is why she's #1) channeled my anxiety, pulled the cord and made a decision. We got some take out pottery from the paint your own place and I supervised while she did the dirty work.

They match one of my Chile mugs, and they please me immensely. I hope to be able to post a link to Lise soon. She made the original mug, and my birds are blatant ripoffs and copies of hers.


Giant sunflowers! Blooming! and facing east, which is the opposite way of the house. Doh! I had heard they faced east but the leaves follow the sun and I figured the flower would too. Nope. The flower sets up and stays facing east. It's pretty neat to see, if not a bit of a bummer since I only see sunflower ass from my house. now we know!


And tomatoes bloom. and bloom. and bloom some more. All sizes, all shapes, all AWESOME.



So that's what's new in my neck of the woods. I'll be wordier later, but I'm meant to pack for Portland etc today. Gah.







Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Too hot...

Thursday, July 1, 2010

And Australia and Kerry were like "WTF?"

Honestly.

I'm telling the story of my evening in pictures. Words exhaust me. So this will be like interpretive dance, but with a camera. Picture cool indie music here ?

I decided to go upstairs to see my view from the roofdeck.


Sweet right? Well it was for a minute. Check out mah tobago hot peppers paw!

They are going to be so good.

And yes, there are cayennes in there as well. They are leaning over from the cayenne plant next door. Even though it looks like 2 kinds of peppers on the same plant, "that is highly unlikely" according to HN. We discussed it at length on his last weekly call from Alaska, mostly because I was convinced and wouldn't drop it. Oh yeah, HN is fishing again. I'm seriously considering trying fish again, just because it seems like I should.

Anyway, the roof garden.


I take a big puff of pride in the peppers, and then I pan left to gaze admiringly at my super lush tomato plant and I see this shizz.


It was definitely not like that this morning. I feel sure I would have noticed.

This much damage can only be done by a real asshole, so I knew there was an asshole around somewhere and I went looking for just that very asshole. It was this dude. Well, these dudes. 2 hornworms, which I had been reading about JUST THIS MORNING while I was surfing the web instead of working.

I'm sorry but that shit is from space.

It's like Jabba the Hut with 100 eyes. Retch. And I'm pretty sure this is his ass, but the other end was just grossing me out. It was like foreskin. Sorry dude, but it was.

And they're huge. and pretty strong too, it's gross.

Here they are being all Swedish painted gold men gymnast act at Canobie Lake and holding a cherry tomato suspended in midair. And sort of maybe doing worm sexy times, I couldn't tell. Notice how they're on a tomato plant branch. They were really unwilling to concede, which is kind of respectable. I had to take the branch off to get them off.


They would not let go. It was fucking SKETCH dude, and awfully creepy too. I mean honestly. And on America's birthday weekend no less. RUDE.

and then I put them down the garbage disposal and went to make faces at myself in the mirror since I went black raspberry picking today and am all dirty lipped:

and happy.

So much to tell

which inevitably means I won't bother to try right? Here's a brief summary of what's shaking here at casa la vista.

1) My sunflowers continue to be ridiculous. 9 ft tall, no flowers in sight yet.



Cool puffy butterfly plants thrive in HN's other garden. I like to go hang out in his other garden while he's away.


JG came to visit and we rocked the ASS off of lunch. We also rocked the ass off some beer, a bottle of Prosecco, and a couple of bottles of wine, but I digress. Back to The Great American Summer Lunch of 2010. Amazing BLT's (Bacon, L, T and bread from the farmer's market), homemade lemonade and cheery cobbler (local cherries) from the hallowed pages of Cook's Illustrated. It turns out we both like cherry, and also that being able to read and following instructions is very important to baking. This explains why I fail at it and why JG excels.


This could be from the show, but it's not. Notice the pinky, that's how you can tell this dessert is highbrow. And she ain't fooling. Those dumplings were homemade too.


Tomatoes and peppers are shuffling along, and I still expect big things. I made ratatouille yesterday with only things from the garden. A zucchini, a green squash, tomatoes, onions and an eggplant. I ate the whole pan too.

Then this morning I went to check on my prize BLT tomato, who I have been eyeballing since it's debut last month. It was all yellow and sad and I spent a few minutes wondering why until I remember I planted Lemon Boys. Which makes it not sad, but ripe. BLTs again!
Fist for scale. And demonstration of raw power.