More Squash!

For my birthday this year Richard paid for a subscription to a local farming CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Each week we can take a short road trip out to Marshallville, Ohio, and pick up locally grown organic produce from Katona's Country Garden.

This week was my first pickup and we received a bag of mixed lettuce, cabbage, basil, parsley, onion, hot peppers, potatoes, and MORE ZUCCHINI!

Between my squash and the zucchini from the farm, I had a couple pounds to work with for dinner. Earlier on Saturday I also visited the farmer's market and picked up some really nice garlic (among other things!)

I adapted a recipe from Deborah Madison's Local Flavors: Cooking and eating from America's Farmers Markets, "Penne with Green and Gold Zucchini and Ricotta."

The recipe calls for a cup of ricotta and freshly grated parmesan (which I omitted to keep it vegan), but Richard added some grated parmesan cheese to his own dish.

I started with the yellow summer squash, zucchini, and pattypan. I cut them into strips:

The recipe calls for either marjoram or basil, and I had basil on hand from the farm. It also calls for 3 cloves of garlic, which I had on hand from the farmer's market.

When I popped out the cloves from the head of garlic it was so fresh and pretty!

I sauted the squash in a pan for about 7-8 minutes, then tossed in the chopped basil and garlic. I then seasoned with salt and pepper.


Here's the final product tossed with the cooked penne pasta! I served it with Italian bread with olive oil with seasonings. It was very easy and very yummy!

Belated Birthday Bash

This weekend we headed out to the Massillon Great Escape theater to a movie to celebrate my birthday. The girls went to see Mama Mia while the boys opted for the more masculine Bat Man.

We all enjoyed our movies, but I think the guys were especially pumped with the Dark Knight. Both agreed to see it again with the girls!

Mama Mia was a very fun movie to see and left us in good spirits. Then we headed out to Rockney's for dinner.

Look how happy everyone looks... Maybe that has something to do with the table of 25 little leaguers who just walked out the door!

Summer Squash Solutions

I know I'm not the only person walking out into the garden and coming in with an armload of zucchini and summer squash...

Here's a picture of yesterday's harvest:

What's funny is that my friend Sharon has a mysteriously similar picture on her blog at:
http://holdermans.blogspot.com/2008/07/cookout-at-jeph-bretts.html

Does everyone have a bowl of squash on their kitchen counter? I guess the difference is what you do with all of that squash! When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. And when life gives you zucchini, you make... Pizza!


Believe it or not, you don't even miss the cheese. I just grilled the squash in a grill pan and placed it on a pizza made from refrigerated pizza dough and jarred sauce. Dinner is ready in a half an hour!

Weed, Wildflower, or Wonder?

Out along our street-side hill there's a bunch of bushes, weeds, and wildflowers. There's one particular plant that appears this time every year and I'm not sure what it is. Is it a lovely wildflower, an invasive weed, or yikes... poisonous? Do you know what it is?

The flowers range from yellow to orange and are tubular in shape. Perfect for hummingbirds or butterflies, I would think...


They also have these delicate little spots...

If you know what it is, please leave me a comment! Thanks!

Bud, Brian, and The Bat

Most every place you work has its pest problems, and for the past couple of years the college has been dealing with occasional bats in the library.

So last week when we heard some angry bat squeeking above the library shelves it shouldn't have been much of a surprise when a fairly large bat started swooping around the library. So when you've got a bat in your library, who ya gonna call? Bud and Brian!

Now, when you watch the video, you unfortunately can't hear the bat's opinion of the events. If bats could speak profanity, you bet this one would have been using some four-letter words! There's also one point in the film when I dive behind the copy machine... Trust me, the bat was big, and he was mad, and if he was flying around your face, you would take cover, too!

Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: No bats were harmed in the making of this video...

Dinner experment... Garlic Scapes!

This past Saturday was opening day at the Massillon Farmers' Market. I went with Mom and we picked up a few things: garlic, onions, squash, and honey. My one splurge item was a package of garlic scapes.

What are garlic scapes, you ask? The lady at the market explained that it's part of the garlic plant that sprouts above ground and can be cut and used when it's still green and curly. She recommended using them in a stir fry, but after some poking around on the web I found that most people use them to make into a pesto.

Here's an image I found on the web, since I didn't snap a picture before making the pesto:
http://www.pbase.com/mitzi/image/30882112

They are very pretty and look like thick chives with a closed blossom at the top. You cut off the blossom tips before using them. If left in the ground the scapes will open then turn brown.

For the pesto I simply processed them in the food processor with olive oil. I didn't add any cheese to keep it vegan, then Richard added his own shredded Parmesan cheese.

Here's what the pesto looked like tossed with farfalle pasta:

That's the bright green pesto in the bowl in the background, and we tossed it with the pasta, toasted pine nuts, and Richard added cheese.

How did it taste? It had a spicy garlic taste, but much more subtle than straight garlic. I thought it was fairly rich. Richard topped his with a balsamic grilled chicken breast.

I think I'm still a basil pesto girl, but this was a nice change of pace. A very successful experiment!

Independence Day... Kitty Style!

Okay, for those of you who really know us, you already know that our cat, Buttercup, can't resist the sound of Richard's singing voice.

So we thought that we would help you all celebrate the Fourth with a patriotic rendition of the "Meow-Spangled Banner," a duet featuring Richard and Buttercup.

For all of you meow-song haters out there, get over it! We think it's very funny. But please excuse Richard's inability to hit the high note... He won't be performing at any baseball games any time soon!



Just click on the "play" arrow to start the video...

Now, much to our surprise, Buttercup wasn't finished singing yet. She was very excited and wanted to sing the song again. Soooooo... If you didn't get enough of her meow-y goodness, check out the video below.

WARNING: This video is not for the kitty haters out there! Buttercup is a very bad kitty sometimes! (And please forgive the slight bit of profanity on my part!)



Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!

Garden Update

The self-watering container plants are growing like gangbusters... The tomato plant (orange blossom) has lots of blossoms, so I'm hoping for a bumper crop!

Our peppers (below are Ace peppers) also have lots of pretty little white blossoms.

And, look! Below you'll see our first squash of the year. Okay, I know it's small, but it's the little yellow sliver. I'm sure in a few weeks I'll be up to my ears in squash!

Below is the garden bed, complete with stakes and cages for the tomato plants. I put newspaper down between the rows to help keep the weeds down.


Finally, below is a picture of our lambs' ears. Notice the fuzzy bumble bees. When I took this picture there were about 15 bees doing their thing.

Happy Father's Day, everyone!

Last night couldn't have been better for a baseball game... The seats were high (but right behind home plate) and the weather was comfortably warm and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Oh, if only the Indians won!

(Has there ever been a better day for baseball?)

(Our seats were almost to the top, but the view was great!)

(It was 70's night and the promotion was 70's style baseball hats.)

(Jenny & John didn't wear their hats....)

We got a chance to see a grand slam in the 10th inning, we only wish it was from the Indians!

Farmers' Market Finds

After work yesterday I stopped by Orrville's weekly Farmers' market. It was fairly small, but that's what I would expect so early in the growing season. I was able to pick up a couple of nifty things, though...

Considering that yesterday was our wedding anniversary, I was so happy to see some very pretty peonies, which were my flowers at the wedding. I just couldn't pass them up!

Below you'll see what I bought:The strawberries are really quite yummy (considering I'm not really a fan of fruit!) and the cilantro is perfect. I also picked up some asparagus, which is really kindof out of season and didn't look that great, but we'll see how it tastes!

The Massillon farmers' market doesn't open until July. For a list of local farmers' markets, check out http://www.farmersmarketonline.com/fm/Ohio.htm.

Why bother going to a farmers' market? Find out by reading Barbara Kingsolver's newest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.

This is my book club's August selection, and I have to say it's one of the best books I've read in a long time. Click on the title's link to visit the author's website to find out more.

Where were you four years ago?

I know where I was...

(Hiding in a doorway so Richard won't see me!)

Yes, folks, it was four years ago when many of us met at Stan Hywet at the scenic terrace overlook for our little wedding ceremony. Thankfully the weather that day was a lot like it is today, warm and sunny!

(Trying not to trip...)

(Waiting to greet everyone...)

(Practicing those fancy moves we learned that Spring...)

If you were one of the folks who joined us that day, I hope you have as many wonderful memories as we do!

We're gonna live off the fat of the land...

Okay, so maybe we can't get by on just one little radish...


But it was sure exciting to eat! Richard and I shared this little radish a couple of days ago. I'll probably harvest the rest of them this week. They're small, but I read that if you let them go too long they will get very strong tasting (this one was already really strong!) and start to split.

I can't wait for our squash to get here! Looks like we're on our way:


What a cheerful little plant this is! Hopefully it will keep getting bigger!

My veggies are in...

After a very chilly and windy spring start, I was able to plant my vegetable garden last weekend. It was still very windy, and a couple plants just couldn't take it. I probably should have "hardened them off" a bit longer than I did, but I was anxious to get them in the ground.

Above is one of my tomato plants that I started from seed back in March. At least now our office won't be "glowing" with the grow lights at night!

Above is a zucchini plant that I direct-sowed a couple of weeks ago. Looks like my squash are off to a good start. I planted a couple zucchini, yellow squash, and patty pan varieties.

This is my garden, which is on a hill. After doing some research I found out that for best results I should create individual raised row beds, which help develop the roots and gives more room to move between the rows. It is a lot tidier than last year's willy-nilly arrangement!

After doing more research, I discovered the "self-watering container" method of extending my garden space. I was able to purchase a variety of self-watering contains from a garden supply company (Gardener's Supply Company). They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, like the smaller ones above for my two eggplant plants.

These are the larger containers which can be used for one or two tomato plants (one plant is in the container on the left) or several smaller plants, like peppers. I just have to keep the reservoir filled and the plants get their water from the bottom of the planter. I now have taken advantage of the extra driveway space!

If you're interested in self-watering containers, there's a book that has been very helpful:
Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers by Edward C. Smith.

Hopefully I'll have lots of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, radishes, and brussels sprouts to share this summer an fall!

Richard plays with Fire

Every now and then Richard gets a chance to attend a live burn and take pictures of Akron Brass products in use. A couple weeks ago he got up early on a Saturday morning and took the following pictures as the Applecreek Fire Department trained...

Here you can see that Richard doesn't have to get too close to take some good pictures...

Okay, with the last one I had to remind Richard that I didn't sign up to be married to a fireman... Too Close!!!!

Wow... a cat's life is a rough life! Scout (less-fluffy cat, top) and Buttercup (more-fluffy cat, bottom) like to chase each other until they drop. This is one of their more serene moments!