Archives for February 2015

garden update: strategy & winter’s final tantrum

February 18, 2015

Well, gardening friends, it’s late February. Only a few weeks stand between us and the official start of spring. Despite the recent ice, despite the inevitable frosts that will still surprise us here and there, winter is throwing her final tantrum. The time to rest is over. Plenty of outside chores can be done immediately, not to mention all the true planning, ordering, and seed starting we should be doing, now that we’ve daydreamed ourselves into the perennial stupor.

I’ve decided that all of my 2015 gardens will be more intentional than in years past.

One of the most vivid overarching lessons I learned in the Master Gardener class last autumn was how to choose suitable plants for each very different spot in my little corner of Eden. Previously, and I so hate to admit this, my strategy was more like this: Drive in a fevered haze to my favorite nurseries and scoop up every colorful thing I could afford.

Ha! Then maybe I’d get it in the ground that afternoon, or maybe I’d find a desperate earthy spot for it a week later, but that wasn’t always the most ideal site. And I always just hoped that with enough water and manure, the poor things would survive. It’s a miracle I ever grew anything, really. I was just having so much fun.

Well, gardening is nothing but fun and miracles! But you know what I mean.

Anyway.

Survival and excited playtime are no longer enough. Thriving and design is where it’s at now. I want to begin in earnest to build a perennial masterpiece that will be here for my grandchildren should we choose to stay at the farm that long. And I want to feed us here beyond what I’ve done in the past.

And in the short term? Rumor has it a young lady in our extended family is considering the farm for her upcoming wedding! So smarter gardening, more beautiful native gardening, is on my mind. This bride will have a flowering landscape for her memories if I have anything to do with it.

As for the edibles, I have decided to grow more of what we actually eat and waste a little less money and energy on seed catalog experiments.

Check out this of resources for Oklahoma gardeners! xoxo

One excellent resource for finding plants that will perform well here is the Master Gardener website, specifically the tab for Oklahoma Proven Selections. Check it out! Every year a distinguished panel of gardeners tests, proves, and selects a handful of plants ranging from annuals to trees and everything in between. What a beautiful collection it is, too! I’ll definitely be comparing my flowering daydreams to this list a lot in 2015.

Lamb's Ear just waking up. This was a gift from our friend Kevin before he left Oklahoma. He had one of the most beloved and most varied Midwestern gardens I've ever seen! — Lamb’s Ear just waking up. This was a gift from our friend Kevin before he left Oklahoma. He had one of the most beloved and most varied Midwestern gardens I’ve ever seen!

My Valentine bouquet this year was a small flat of really vibrant pansies. I love them. xoxo

Happy late February, friends. Don’t let winter’s final tantrum get you down. She will soon be escorted out the door and all your flowering, fragrant, delicious garden daydreams will come to Technicolor life. You’ll be free to forget all about the ice and snow and get to the work you love so much.

O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
~Percy Bysshe Shelley
XOXOXOXO

better boxed brownies & other kitchen ideas

February 17, 2015

It’s Tuesday! Let’s talk about food. I have lots of things to say because we’ve been feasting like kings and queens around here, finding personal little twists along the way. What follows is just a quick list of ideas for you to try.

And what’s a feast without dessert? Whether you’re indulging in a comforting slice of cake, a box of cookies, or something adventurous like a pistachio-studded cannoli, dessert is the cherry on top of any meal. If you’re craving something sweet and don’t feel like baking or running out, ordering online is a game-changer. Imagine having your favorite treats delivered right to your door, perfectly packaged and ready to delight.

Check out this website named Treats N Stuff. They offer an incredible selection of desserts that will elevate any occasion—or make an ordinary Tuesday feel extraordinary. From classic favorites to unique confections, there’s something for everyone, and the convenience of online ordering ensures that your sweet cravings are satisfied without missing a beat.

Crab Meat Fettuccine Alfredo: This sounds so much fancier and more complicated than it is to make. I served it to Handsome for our Valentine’s dinner here at the farm, and I suspect it will become a staple rotation in our “special occasion” menu. The only two differences between this dish and our standard baked Alfredo are: 1) using some Old Bay seasoning along with the nutmeg, garlic, salt and pepper and 2) adding to the finished but still simmering sauce a can of sweet crab claw meat which you have first drained and steamed with lemon juice. Once the noodles, sauce, and crab meat are all combined, just pour it into a buttered casserole dish, grate some extra cheese on top, and bake till the tips and edges of that cheese are golden.
Oh man. So good. Handsome loved it as much as I did, and although we filled our bellies I was able to freeze a half a ton more for Jocelyn. The seafood and Old Bay seasoning made us remember New Orleans. So, double win! This is my contribution to your Mardi Gras, by the way. Give it a shot.
Last note on this recipe, I owe big thanks to Kelly and Katie for answering my crabby questions while grocery shopping! They steered me firmly but gently away from both imitation crab meat and canned something else. LOL The $6 can of claw meat was definitely worth the tiny splurge!

Kale-Mushroom-Swiss Salad: Okay, this could have been better had I used true olive oil and balsamic vinegar instead of plain ol’ bottled Italian dressing, but I was out of balsamic that day. I took this to book club a couple of weeks ago and one of the ladies said the kale was a bit “pokey.” haha Kale gets more tender with an olive oil massage. Such is life.
The basics are: De-stemmed and torn up kale, raw mushrooms, and grated Swiss cheese, plus simple dressing. If you use true olive oil, start by massaging the kale shreds with that then add the rest of the food. Dress with balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and you’re done. It tastes lots better after marinating in the fridge for a while. The kale obsession continues.

Better Boxed Brownies: While most dishes seem to be much better prepared from scratch, and that’s definitely the way we usually roll around here, brownies seem to be better from the box. Or at least simpler and just as good, as long as you tweak the box instructions just a little.
I swap out the 1/4 cup of water for the same amount of heavy cream. Then brown and cool butter in the same amount as the box asks for oil. Do not add an extra egg, as this will make the finished product fluffier and more cake-like. Shouldn’t great brownies be fudgy? Then of course add you own special touch! Like candy or chopped nuts or anything you want.
For Valentine’s Day I topped the raw brownie batter with nine evenly spaced Ferrero Rocher candies. Do you love these as much as we do? All alone they are so delicate and crispy, so much subtle hazelnut flavor, I just… I just can’t. It’s almost too much with the brownies. So to make it even better I ate my fancy Valentine brownie with a scoop of frozen Cool Whip. Tones it down, you know?

Buttermilk Biscuits: When you make biscuits from scratch, what fat do you use? My favorite recipe calls for shortening, but I like the taste of butter, then I remembered how well pie crust turns out when I divide the fat need between the two.
So on Monday I made an icy-day cozy hibernation breakfast of pork chops, fried eggs, gravy, and homemade buttermilk biscuits made with half cold butter and half shortening. They were amazing! Light-years better than any other biscuit I have ever put in my mouth. Soft yet crispy. Tender, fluffy, buttery tasting, and sky high (though that property is owed to the baking powder).
So that’s my last kitchen tip today: when making buttermilk biscuits from scratch, use half butter and half shortening. Bam.

Okay, those are the kitcheny things on my mind today. What little culinary experiments have you tried recently? As a side note, these delicious adventures are why no matter how much I run I don’t seem to be slimming down much. LOL More on that in a couple of weeks on an upcoming Marathon Monday.

Happy cooking! And even happier eating.
Laissez les bon temps roulez
XOXOXOXO

friday 5 at the farm: valentine preview

February 13, 2015

Hello, happy Friday! And Happy Valentine’s weekend to you too!

Handsome and I slept downstairs last night just for fun and both woke up around 4:30 this morning to some strange noises in the house. I’ll spare you the details in case you are easily frightened, but suffice it to say that we firmly believe this house to be haunted and this morning’s noises weren’t NOT footsteps. In our bedroom. Where neither of us were.

Anyway.

We couldn’t go back to sleep so we watched some reruns of Love Boat and snuggled. Then as we were stretching awake to tiptoe outside for Hot Tub Summit I realized I’d forgotten to fill my precious coffee machine with water last night. So the grounds were there, hot and fragrant, but dry. So no coffee yet. Womp womp.

Then the sky outside was so beautiful but also kind of thick and murky, like a werewolf sky, with the moon barely pressing through the darkness. Just an hour later, though, and it is hot pink and brilliant purple. Big, layered poofs of clouds and sunburst, another thrilling Oklahoma sunrise.

Anyway.

Happy Friday the 13th! Let’s hope the rest of the day’s weirdness is purely fun, like this. And let’s hope all of it morphs into beauty like the sky did, too. I have a 15 mile run scheduled then plenty of time to get ready for weekend #1 of our Valentine festivity. This year we agreed to split the holiday between two weekends: I arrange our meals and celebration this first go round and he does the same next weekend. I love this plan! It should keep up from overlapping or interfering with little surprise details, you know?

Fingers crossed that the ghost or whatever is upstairs gives us some privacy.

For Friday 5 this week, how about just a handful of photos of how I’m prepping for the weekend? Okay.

red tulips and a sparkly clean house (soon)

a carb-heavy New Orleans-inspired side dish involving this little treasure — A carb-heavy New Orleans-inspired side dish involving this little treasure. Oooh and apparently some fresh nail polish.

decadent dessert involving this, but not this alone

Our romantic plans this weekend do not include this feathery little guy. Can you babysit? Please? Pretty please?

As I wrap this up and drink my last cup of Friday the 13th coffee, I can smell fresh sweet strawberries waiting to be slurped and enjoyed with my husband. I see a frilly three-dimensional card waiting to be sent to my youngest daughter, loaded with words that I pray (and trust) will soak into her heart. And I am thinking of the overwhelming power of Love, in all its manifestations, that keeps up moving and striving and then resting together day after day, no matter what happens to us or around us.

This snapshot was taken in the French Quarter at a very cool little artists' walk we both love. He was refusing to let me smooch him like I wanted to. Then he grabbed me and held me up in the air. xoxo — This snapshot was taken in the French Quarter at a very cool little artists’ walk we both love. He was refusing to let me smooch him like I wanted to. Then he grabbed me and held me up in the air. Then I got the smooch I wanted. xoxo

Come What May.

Happy Friday the 13th, sweet friends, And happy Valentine’s Day too. Much love to you always.

Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong
XOXOXO

no longer surprised by joy

February 8, 2015

When I first opened my eyes this morning, sunlight was streaming into our bedroom warm and smooth, molten, kinetic. The walls were pulsing with that wonderful early morning sheen, thick with golden light, and then in a moment it was gone. Slipped away in the cleaner white light of day. A rare moment captured.

Then a little bit later when Handsome and I stepped outside with our mugs of perfect coffee, ushering the chickens and geese out of their nighttime coop and tiptoeing towards Hot Tub Summit, we caught another rare moment. The east pasture and middle yard were capped with a thin blanket of wooly fog, rolled out like a blanket no more than twelve or fifteen feet above the ground. Through that fog, more sunlight streaming fiercely, joyously, making every tree branch come to life despite their dormancy. The backlit fog was stunning. And then it was gone, burned off in the warming rays.

These moments were brief but breathtaking, and I am so happy we both got to see them.

Miracles have been happening in our life. Always, yes I know. Life itself is a miracle. But friends… Miracles have been happening. Some of them have been direct answers to prayers, often desperate ones. Many of these prayers are several years old, too. Other miracles have been complete surprises, wonderful doses of saving grace from near tragedy or windfall joy out of the blue.

I try to move slowly through my days whenever possible so I can notice the details of life more fully, absorb them, and magnify the Light streaming in that gilds everything. Ann Voskamp illustrates this discipline beautifully. Besides making the days more lovely, this also serves to calm me with those yet unanswered prayers. I feel steady and sure, confident in the powerful Love surrounding us.

Today I barely feel the need to ask for anything more because the momentum of miracles in our life is so strong, so kinetic. But we are invited to ask largely, so I will. Before that though, and after it and all day every day, my prayer is Thank You. Thank you, and I trust You. I trust you with everything big and small, seen and unseen. Thank You.

Are you seeing miracles in your life right now? Do you need a miracle? They are certainly available, and you don’t have to deserve them to receive them. But you do have to ask and trust.

Wishing you a really gorgeous, happy, love-filled Sunday. Handsome and I are soon heading back outside to soak up more unseasonably warm temperatures (Oklahoma still thinks it April, not February) and see what new miracles are on the horizon. Thank you so much for stopping in.

Thank You.
Thank You and I trust You.
XOXOXO

goldfinch (book review & event photos)

February 7, 2015

Hello, happy Literary Saturday to you! I’m so glad you’re here. How about we discuss a new-ish piece of fiction and look at some happy, yummy photos, too? Okay? Cool.

Last night our famous little Oklahoma book club, Dinner Club With a Reading Problem, convened at hostess Kerri’s house to eat a delicious array of salads (lovely idea, Kerri!) and share our thoughts on Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. A couple of months ago Tracy’s husband Pete suggested we read it, and I am so glad he did. I gave it a five-star review on Goodreads, despite some character weariness there just past the halfway point (I’ll explain soon).

The story is centered around the life and coming of age of a boy and his questionable possession of this famous 17th-century painting.

About the book, and my personal thoughts:

Published in 2013, Goldfinch is no longer a new release, but it is a Pulitzer prize winner, widespread bestseller, and totally worth your time. The writing is taut and elegant, descriptive no matter the scene or character (i.e., lots of details whether you want them or not), and the story is complex and interesting to say the least. Reading it opened my eyes to a whole segment of world culture that is foreign to me. It’s definitely unique among other novels and, though pleasurable, is a challenge to read.Challenge is good. I’m not alone in that opinion; take a glance at this article which claims that only 44% of readers who purchased Goldfinch online actually finished it. Wow! That’s less than half! (You’re welcome for summarizing that math for you. Excuse me while I dust off my shoulders.)

At around 800 pages it is a long book, certainly, and I agree it pushes the reader through a few dry spells; but it also boasts refreshing time leaps and luscious, sensual immersion into the moment over and over again. I am a sucker for well developed, believable, yet slightly fantasized characters, and this hefty book delivers many times over. A few of the main settings are almost as well developed as characters in their own right, particularly Hobie’s antique furniture shop and Manhattan apartment home. It grew to be so beautiful in my mind that now I almost feel like I have lived there in the past but had my memory gently smudged. That is writing well done.

I want to address the late-story character weariness only to warn you of it and encourage you to not let it keep you from finishing the book or enjoying it. I mean that. Surely other people feel differently than me about this, but just in case you and I are page-turning soul sisters, please know this going in: A guy named Boris is likely to really get on your nerves. He will make you almost crazy, and at some point while reading you will consciously hope (while gritting your teeth) that the actor who plays Boris in the movie is unreasonably good looking, so as to distract you from his decompository character. He’s really awful, okay? Boris will make you temporarily hate all Russian people, which is not your nature. And he will cause you to take new and more passionate stands against all kinds of drug use. Which will become time consuming and irrational on your part. Please, friend, read the book and don’t let Boris steal this pleasure from you. It’s worth it in the end.*

Okay, besides that, it’s all really great. Truly.

On that note, reports that the novel is being adapted into a screenplay is exciting. I like the actress playing the female lead, though knowing her identity ahead of reading did limit my imagination a little. That’s okay, but I’ll refrain from spilling all those beans in case you’d like to read the book blind before seeing the movie. Which of course is a policy I always strongly endorse.

I’d love to mention one more thing I deeply admired about Goldfinch. Written as a first person narrative with the main character being an adolescent boy growing eventually into an adult man, I find it fascinating that a female author could write so convincingly. That’s not meant to sound sexist; it’s just a genuine compliment to Tartt’s ability to shape her own voice. And the voice was age-appropriate, too, grasping believable details along the way. The things a teenager would notice, the teenager narrator noticed. The things an adult would notice, the adult narrator noticed. And so on. I loved it completely and wonder if Tartt writes this way naturally or has cracked a code somewhere along the way. It really amplified the pleasure of reading for me.

Okay, let’s hear from some of the other book club girls:

Goldfinch, Donna Tartt — Mysti took the time to write notes and conversation starters for the group. These are excellent thoughts! I wish we could have a second dinner to focus on them a bit more.

Melissa and I basically agreed on the book, as we are wont to do. She expressed a similar frustration with Boris and felt the same way I did about the main characters’ love story. Or lack thereof. She said that, although the book was laboriously long, she often found herself thinking about it while not reading. The characters became real to her, and isn’t this one of the best compliments a writer can receive?

DeLana, on the other hand, felt exactly the opposite way about Boris and Theo (Theo is the main character). She felt that of the two young men Boris exhibited the best attitude. They both made poor life decisions along the way and hurt plenty of people, but somehow (and I have to agree with this now that DeLana has illustrated her point) Boris the Very Unpleasant Russian was actually the sunnier of the two people, overall. Also, she points out, he managed to keep this disposition despite the fact that just like Theo he had lost his mother at a young age and lived with a neglectful and abusive father. So, attitude is everything? Maybe so. And big thanks to DeLana for shifting my view a little. Such is the beauty of book club!

Mysti came prepared with wonderful, insightful questions for the group, some of which we answered naturally. One of my favorite prompts was, “Would you read a 700 page sequel of this book, by this author?” LOL. By now you know that most of us found the novel to be long. What I have not fully described is how passionately most of the girls felt like it was just way too long. Like, to excess. DeLana even thought that most of the individual sentences were unreasonably long. On this I disagree, but to each her own, right? Another question Mysti posed was, “Why is art so important to the human soul?” How wonderful. I have been thinking about it a lot since we dismissed last night. The story, after all, is not only centered around a famous piece of art but is also framed by the world of art and furniture trade. Really fascinating stuff.

It’s worth mentioning here that of the nine women in our group lately only three of us finished the book to the last page. A few of the girls read a lot of the book. A couple of us explored the Cliff Notes. One of us (her name rhymes with Rexamie) is waiting for the movie. : )

And now for the salad-themed feast…

We enjoyed two different cold tortellini combinations, a crunchy oriental Ramen slaw, creamy macaroni salad, fresh broccoli salad with hard boiled eggs, marinated artichokes with capers and red onions and other wonderful things, made from scratch hummus, taco salad with French dressing and Doritos, a raw kale and mushroom mix, and several other fresh offerings. We feasted! Someone last night commented it was “summer on a plate,” and I couldn’t agree more.

Oh and several decadent desserts. Of course.

These grapes! Lightly dressed with some kind of magical cream cheese-sour cream mixture and elbowed up with pecan halves. I could totally go for some of these for breakfast! Yum to the max.

Doesn’t that all look amazing? As I’ve said many times before, we never leave book club events hungry. This coming Tuesday I’ll post the recipe for my salad contribution and maybe a few of the others if my friends are feeling generous. : )

Mysti and Seri modeling our club's t-shirt. Adorable!! xoxo — Mysti and Seri modeling our club’s t-shirt. Adorable!! xoxo

Thanks again for visiting me here for Literary Saturday! I hope your weekend is beautiful and nourishing in every way. Please share something you’ve been reading lately. Or maybe a salad idea? You can never collect enough book titles or recipes, after all.

“—if a painting really works down in your heart and changes the way you see, and think, and feel,
you don’t think, ‘oh, I love this picture because it’s universal.’
‘I love this painting because it speaks to all mankind.’
That’s not the reason anyone loves a piece of art.
It’s a secret whisper from an alleyway. Psst, you. Hey kid. Yes you.”
~Donna Tartt
XOXOXO

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