WINE A LOT, YOU'LL FEEL BETTER!

Friday night found this group of friends seated around a large round table in the window of the Hillsboro Brewpub, laughing and having a wonderful time...drinking wine and having some of the best fish tacos around.

Janet, Marcia and Geri

Joan and Joan

me, Sharon and Joan

We have been dubbed the Wine hags, and although I doubt any of us feel like 'hags', we really don't mind the moniker.  We get together somewhat frequently (although we'd all like to make it more frequent I am sure) over wine and food and prove how wonderful the woman-bond really is!!

On another note, Freddie and I took both Saturday and Sunday for day trips, a kind of mini vacation.  On Saturday we went to a lovely old hotel, the Trempeleau Hotel, overlooking the Mississippi River for lunch.  There is a lock and dam nearby and we drove around it only to discover this narrow gravel road, which Freddie wanted to explore.  It was simply beautiful.

Both sides of the road were like this, water right up to the roadside, and lots and lots of green growth...it was like going back in time into a primordial period.

You can barely see it in this photo, but there is a bright red flower in the center.  There were countless numbers of these beautiful flowers along the road.  My camera's battery failed or there would be more photos of them.

We drove as far as we could and then came to this.  Luckily there was a tiny turn around to the left...

Sunday we went to the Great River Folk Festival and heard some great folk music.  All in all, a good weekend.

TOMATOES AND MORE TOMATOES

I know there are only a very few of you who follow this blog, but to those who do, my absence has been mostly attributed to being so busy with the garden produce, among other things.  Today I decided I would update, while not shirking my garden duties.  I have roasted/canned pizza sauce; made tomato ciabatta bread; blanched and frozen green beans; and made and froze three batches of pesto, and also 'cleaned' the house.  I am soon ready for a glass of wine....

Despite my garden having been taken over by weeds this year, it is doing very well.  The zinnias are magnificent, their colors so vibrant and their varied shapes almost unbelievable.

Today I have spent much time in the kitchen, and although I am a bit weary I have truly enjoyed it.  

Sauteing onions, black olives, garlic and some tomato paste...

...when cooled add to yeast flour mixture to make a really wet dough... let rise a couple of hours

using lots and lots of flour shape and plop onto parchment paper and slide into a very hot oven...

after 25 minutes some of the most delicious ciabatta you can imagine.

On to the baskets of tomatoes...today roasting pizza sauce to can.

...cut up tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil and add salt, pepper, oregano and a touch of sugar and roast until it is as thick as you like...

out of the oven, and into hot sterile jars, process (along with powdered ascorbic acid) for 30 minutes...

on the basement shelf.  I have now canned enough pizza sauce for about 75 pizzas, plus a few frozen containers as well.

At the start of the gardening season I hunted around for some straw to mulch between the rows and was never able to find any.  My garden is not small, and this not small garden, without straw mulch has been taken over by weeds.  I have managed, in most instances to keep the area directly around my plants weed free, but everywhere else is densely packed with quack grass, purslane and lots of other unwanted growth.  (Still, I often think to myself weeds are plants, too, and they are unaware that they are 'weeds'.)  Still, when I go up to my garden I always feel a bit depressed as my garden, every other year, has been kind of an artistic endeavor for me.  I loved the beauty of the clean rows filled with colorful and plentiful produce.  This year it lacks that clean-cut beauty, but it doesn't seem to mind, as it is producing non-stop.

I love my garden and all that it gives.  

TOMATOES APLENTY

Despite having terrible blight, my tomatoes are doing very well this year.  For the first time ever the plants tower over me, they must be at least seven feet tall and filled with both green and ripe red tomatoes.

First real harvest....

waiting on the windowsill to be 'dealt' with...

There was enough quantity to make my first batch of roasted tomato sauce:  Chopped up tomatoes, skins, seeds and all;  chopped up onions;  chopped up garlic;  chopped up basil;  salt/pepper and olive oil.  No measuring, just lots of each.  Mix and roast for a few hours on 375, until as thick as desired.  

I freeze sauce for winter use.  I like it chunky, but for those who like it smooth, puree it either before freezing or when wanting to use.

Out of the oven, cooled and ready to freeze or use.


...by adding oregano you have a really great roasted pizza sauce...

Sunday night pizza with fresh roasted sauce.

As there is an abundance of tomatoes, and we so much love them, I make this simple, utterly delicious dish.

Cut up into small 'bites' plenty of tomatoes, small dice onions and garlic, lots of chopped basil, salt/pepper and olive oil (the same ingredients as for roasting) early in the day.  Let sit for several hours.  Prepare your favorite spaghetti, here I used Linguini, and while the pasta is still hot, right out of the kettle,  place in dish, cover with the uncooked tomato sauce, add grated Romano Cheese, a basil leaf, 

serve with a fresh green salad.  No taste quite like this, fresh and bright and oh so easy.

GIVING BACK WHILE HAVING FUN

Iris, Elsa and I have been volunteering at the Vernon County Humane Society, and would like to do so once per week, although with such busy lives that is not always possible.

 

This past Thursday we were asked to do the task of walking three adorable new puppies that had just arrived.  As you can imagine both girls were over the top delighted.

 

I thought we'd have to walk them within some kind of enclosure, but Jenni, the manager said, no, walk them anywhere you want.  So leashes tightly grasped we went outdoors.

 



 

Puppies pause to get their bearings....

 

 

 

Iris and Elsa pause to untangle the three.

 

After about 15-20 minutes of 'walking' we went indoors and within a closed room, simply played and socialized with the puppies.

 

 

 

 

Then the girls were ready for some real work, which they did with such eagerness it astounded me.

 

 

 

 

Weeding the flower bed just in front of the building, this task took us about 45  minutes as the media was going to arrive the next day and we wanted it to look beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the fun the girls take this 'job' seriously and are always eager to do the next task, asking to sweep, to wash windows, and to help out in ways that have no hands on animals at all.

 

Quite honestly, I love spending my time with these girls in this way.





BIKING BUDDIES

Iris has been asking for quite some time to take 'my' bike ride with me.  My route is just a little under 20 miles with part of that being on a busy highway before getting to the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.  The route on the Reserve is 14 miles, and as Iris had not ridden that far at one time before, her dad dropped her and her bike off at the gate where I met them.

 

 

 

 

We are set to begin...

 

 

 

...off she goes, and she was quite the rider.  There are several hills on this route, some more major than others, and she was set to walk her bike up hills if necessary.  As we approached one looooong hill she said, I'll have to walk this one.  But then as she was biking up not far from me she said, no, I'm going to do it. 

 

And she did!!

 

And she did every single one of the hills except the one that goes up from the covered bridge at the point where I turn around.  She waited on the bridge and drank some more water while I went up the hill to the last gate and turned around and came back.

 

 

 

 

A stop at a flowing well to refill the water bottle.  I never drink much while riding, but this young lady drank tons.

 

 

 

Just approaching the last 'leg' of the ride, crossing over Co. P onto the Old Road as it winds towards Rockton.

 

This girl did nearly 15 miles today!!!!

 

I am so proud of her, never a complaint, never I'm tired, just a need to stop for a drink, although one time she insisted I pass her the bottle while we were riding.

 

She did say she was 'starved' and that she sure would sleep well tonight.

 

Fun for me to ride with my nine year old granddaughter.

 



HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD





Bartholomew

Were my father still alive
he would be eighty-nine today.
I wonder what
in the long thirty-one years
since he passed,
would have been...
for him...
for us.

I know he'd still be the
Kitchen God of my youth
who could coax exquisite
tastes-smells,
and sheer amount
from the merest ingredients.

White chef's apron tied high
on his portly frame,
his huge brown eyes missing
not a thing
as he surveyed his Kingdom.

A tall, tall man of short stature
who loved long, sleek Lincolns
though once he brought home
a lowly Nash.

A self-trained musician
bending his alto sax
to high jazz
as we kids eagerly sat
on the scratchy, green parlor sofa...
a rapt audience,
sure he was a star...

and he could belt out a song
in his huge baritone
rich with chestnut notes
that at other times
might send us scurrying.


He was a suitcase kind of Dad-
an on-the-road salesman
hawking kettles--
not just any kettles, either
but STAINLESS STEEL
none of that aluminum for food
he'd eat or serve!


He'd be off for a week at a time
sometimes two
demonstrating his wares
in other people's kitchens...
roast beef, braised with very little water
(that was an important component)
to tender perfection in his largest kettle,

in the smallest one, ruby red beets
that he would later demonstrate
left no stain...
potatoes steamed on low heat
little water
certainly not boiled to death.

Sometimes, to my delight,
we might accompany him,
the clean-up-crew of kids.
He had a tiny office front
in Rochester, NY
where we might stay over night
if the 'dinner party' went late-
and in the morning he'd fix us
salami sandwiches,
not just any salami, mind you,
but hard salami sliced so thin
you could see right through it,
on Italian hard rolls
so crusty that flakes broke off
with every bite.
I loved this breakfast
in that tiny space,
relishing the almost naughtiness of it.

Sometimes
cooking in my kitchen,
Iris, earnest and supremely focused,
stirring by my side,
I know he has come through
(he may never have held her nor
felt the aching sweetness of her arms
around his neck)
but he is there in her,
as he has been in me...
cooking on.

 

 Novemberr 24, 2010

Joanne Adragna Shird

IRIS' RECITAL

This nine year old young lady played her solo during the violin recital last Sunday.  She nailed it!!



I love this look of utter concentration that takes over her face while playing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a child who loves music and I have heard her say that music changes everything.  I love how deeply she feels music.  And I agree, music does change everything.

 

I am so proud of her.