What happened to the pomegranates?

Did you know that many biblical scholars think that the "apple" of Adam and Eve fame was actually a pomegranate? Little trivia there...

Just when I was getting to love poms in everything from tea to sparkling water, all of a sudden, they are gone. Did we decimate the pomegranate population in our zest? Just wondering.

So summer comes to the mountain. Birds are having a field day and chirping like mad. Lovely. Lots of beautiful woodpeckers at the bird feeder. Love those guys. Saw a family of deer yesterday, mom, dad, and two fawns, little bambis.

My garden is growing with squash taking off and over, and the chard is ready to pluck. Got some herbs going too, Thai basil which is a real winner. My gargantuan rosemary bush didn't make it through the wet winter, so I'll need to replenish that soon. So nice to walk outside and grab some fresh rosemary for so many dishes.

Tried out some French cheese and a nice red wine with it. Epoisses is a very fragrant cheese, similar to brie. Very fragrant. And remarkably subtle tasting for all that "nose". It has a thick outer crust that keeps all that goodness in. This is a cheese that does best when allowed to warm on the counter. Nice on a cracker or baguette. For pairing, I chose a 2010 Hahn Winery Meritage that can stand up to all that cheese but adds a layer of smokiness, fruitiness and depth. It's a nice marriage.

Lots happening in the night sky these days. Asteroids, planets aligning, eclipses on the way. With summer skies in the forecast, I expect to get the scope out and start exploring the universe.

 

Remembering how to read and other surprizes

I read a book! Funny how there never seems to be time to just sit and read a good book. But I managed to find some time and got around to it. The book? Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I heard such good things about it, and it's got the Downton Abbey ambience. Actually it is a historical novel based during the reign of Henry VIII, Cromwell and Wolsey. I was surprised how good it is. So get out there and read a book, it's amazingly un-tv-like. And this week has been too tv-heavy, not fun tv, sad tv.

I was also surprised when I saw my tulips blooming. they all busted open at the same time and look really gorgeous. I did find one of the flowers picked off the stem and lying on the stairs beside it. Hmmm, still don't know which little critter saw fit to tiptoe through my tulips but fortunately it was only one of the bunch. Maybe it was the coyote I stared down on my street one morning this week. I don't think they eat flowers though.

I have continued on my phyllo pastry party. My latest venture was a muffin-sized phyllo bowl dusted with cinnamon sugar, baked, and filled with strawberries. I imagine a sploosh of whipped cream would be great on top, but even without it was good. Messy good.

I found a nice table wine at Costco the other day, Bere Toscana 2009, 90 point rating and it tastes good especially at $10. It's a blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet, and Merlot.

Salute!
 

Comets and kale

Things are heating up here in the hills. I have a hyacinth blooming in the yard and to my surprise, the multitude of tulip bulbs I planted last fall are poking up towards the sun. They may be slow bloomers, but I'll be happy to see their lovely faces whenever they choose.

This is my busy time of the year working weekends as a chair umpire for college tennis, leaving me little time for gardening but that will soon change and I'll be out in the dirt once again. I am planning on planting shallots, along with the requisite tomatoes and maybe I'll try zucchini or crookneck squash. That will give me a garden-fresh ratatouille (minus the eggplant). I make a mean ratatouille.

As the cold days turn warm, I have been doing a lot of cooking experimentation. Mainly with phyllo dough. I made a muffin-size stuffed phyllo with feta, eggplant, and pistachios (I used walnuts). Of course, there was more, coriander, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. With phyllo, the tough job is painting them all with olive oil and stacking them. Having done a few now, I am a bit better at it. The first one was a sort of swiss chard quiche with feta in phyllo, with 10 layers of dough, and that came out a bit oily but palatable. I'll give that another shot, though.

Paint it as thinly as possible is my advice. It's kind of fun at any rate. The feta muffin recipe is from Martha Stewart. You layer 4 sheets, oiled between each, then cut into quarters and stuff them into a muffin pan, then fill them with baked eggplant, feta cheese, broken up nuts, and the spices mixed together. Bake those puppies up and devour. O la la, good. Mine weren't as cute as Martha's, but I barely had time to look at them anyway.

My other ingredient passion is kale. It's a type of cabbage. Tried a couple recipes, nothing great. I think the best way to prepare it is to shred the green part off the stalks, blanche in boiling water for a couple minutes, drain and then saute with garlic and onions, red pepper flakes and salt. Final touch, a few splashes of vinegar, red wine vinegar is my fave, but I have tried apple cider and balsamic too, both good, just not too much. Another way is to cook them in a chicken broth and let it reduce rather than blanching them. Kale is good sauteed with sausage too, for the meat eaters out there. You know who you are, Romania!

What vino to have with your greens? Ahh, thanks to my generous sis, I had a Christmas gift card for Whole Foods, and used it to get some goodies, including a bottle of red wine from Sicily that was dirt cheap, Piccolo Fiore 2010. Maybe there has been a mistake, but I had a pleasant surprise. It was perfect. A light red, like a Pinot or Zinfandel. Soft on the palate but flavorful. Great with veggies.

So what better to do as you sip your Piccolo Fiore and wait for the kale to blanche? Check out a comet, what else? I drove to the coast of the beautiful Pacific Ocean just minutes from my house, with my trusty star-gazing companion, Penny, to see if we could observe the comet in the evening sky just after sunset. We walked the West Cliff path looking closely for any sign of the rare sight. Just as the sky began to become darkened and the crescent moon appeared, a huge cloud bank rushed in to block any hope of seeing the cosmic event. Darn that fog! But here is what it would have looked like...
 

Spring on the horizon

Days are getting longer and the sun is coming back. I'm expecting those bulbs I buried last October to begin pushing their buds towards the heat and the first of spring blooms to surprise me one fine morning. However, my attempt to have a winter harvest of chard and spinach just didn't succeed. Guess those few but brutal rain storms just pounded the little seedlings too hard and they never got started. Upside...the bed is ready for spring planting when the time is right.

My sweet best friend, Penny, suffers through the early darkness and rainy days each year, so like me I know she is anxious for the longer days, nightly walks in the state park, and more outside fun. Meanwhile, she is holding on and hibernating by the fire.

This was a beautiful morning last weekend while strolling at a nearby park and horse ranch. She's pretty, isn't she? Such a love.

A new trend that is really taking off are the blends that many wineries are producing, particularly blends of cabernets, merlots, and other reds. I have had several that are delicious and bold, great with strong cheeses and meats, and inexpensive. One of the good ones is by the Bridlewood label that they call BlendITs. Wine prices seem to be creeping upwards. Now is a good time to savor some of the bargains available in our unique wine country. Salute!

 

Dog Days in the Trees

These are the end of summer delight days we enjoy in California. Warm days and cool nights. A fine mist rolling across the sky in the mornings and landing softly on the plants, causing the endless spider webs to be lit up with tiny beads of reflection. Beautiful.

The spiders are having their field day from tree to tree, plant to plant putting up their webs for their bugfeast. When the air cools and rains start, they'll pack up their silk and hibernate until next spring.

Meanwhile, my garden is producing fabulous tomatoes and blackberries, which I am fully savoring. The beans are still on the way.

Time for a delicious Stephen Vincent Pinot Noir or an old vine Zinfandel to go with those veggies roasted or steamed with an herbal sauce and a fresh fish baked in a rice wine vinegar and beer marinade.

Heavenly Gaze

Summer in Felton has arrived and is in full swing. It's not as hot as in previous summers, the mornings are often cool and overcast from the movement inland of the marine layer that forms over the Pacific Ocean only 10 miles westward. Late nights can be damp from the mist that drifts upward into the coastal redwoods. Not that I am usually out and about "late night" but last night was an exception. I lugged my new telescope out to my astronomy club's prime viewing area in Bonny Doon. What an incredible display of the universe! More on that later.

In the garden, I am enjoying the fruits of my labor with delicious cherry tomatoes. These little darlings are red and sweet. I had less robust results from the lettuce I grew this year, but I do enjoy going out in the morning, picking some tender lettuce leaves and ripe tomatoes and calling it "lunch".

What a simple delight. In the evening, I use the fresh greens and tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to make a caprese salad paired with a very tasty Cab, 2009 Joel Gott 815. Delish.
I also have a bunch of green beans that haven't produced anything to eat yet, but they sure look nice as they turn their leaves towards the sun or cup them to collect moisture. They were supposed to be bush beans, but I have discovered tendrils commingling with the neighboring blackberry bush so perhaps they have bigger aspirations.

Now to the sky... Up here in the hills, we have skunks, we have deer, we have spiders, we have birds and bees, and of course, we have trees. And the folks who go to the trouble to live here like it quiet and dark. No or very few street lights. The beauty of that is the abundance of stars that are visible on most clear nights. After years of watching them sparkle, I was compelled to go further and get a telescope. My little view of the sky from my deck rises almost directly overhead with a small V between the tall trees towards the Northeast sky. The brightest star in that V is Vega, appropriately, and it was the first star I caught in my scope. A beauty. To enrich my knowledge and viewing opportunities, I joined an astronomy club and attended my first big sky star party last night in Bonny Doon, a nearby tiny mountain town far from city lights.
The location is up a winding mountain road to the top where there is a wide open space. Clear views of the West, South and East skies offered a night sky right out of the star charts. What a treat! I'm still learning how to use the beautiful telescope that is now so treasured, but I saw Polaris, the Big Dipper and many other constellations, and got Mars and Saturn to show me their best sides. Wow. 4 hours flew by until I started to fade and drove down the winding road to home. But I shall return.

Winter Garden

Winter is a time for contemplation and reflection. The earth goes into hibernation. The plants die back into the ground and the soil goes cold. The rain breaks down the leaves, roots, stems and fruits into nutrients that are absorbed into the soil and the bugs help break them down and return them to the dirt.

Up here in the mountains, the humans take advantage of the sparse limbs to trim back the growth so that in spring, we might have a fighting chance against nature. All around there are sounds of chainsaws and trimmers during the shortened daylight. The squirrels are staying warm somewhere and are not as frequent visitors dropping onto the deck to check the birdfeeders. But skunks still wander, not as visible or as noisy as before, but the nose knows they are around. The deer are keeping still and not encountered on the roads as often, but they are around too.

While we are having a mild winter, it is still cold in the trees. But it's a nice break from last year's unyielding rain and storms. And I for one am enjoying the relief, the warm sun, and the comforting glow of my little woodstove with the sweet furry creatures I call my family, Penny and Stella. Our sweet little Blanche is still here in our hearts. And my human family is in my thoughts and heart as well. Spring will come, life will renew, and the garden will blossom again. This season is a time to rest, renew, reflect and prepare for the challenges to come.