MAGiC

Marin Art and Garden Center, where I volunteer twice a week, has a picture of me on their website!  Check it out.  As a thank-you, a few volunteers were invited to attend a flower-arranging class.  That's a picture of me working on my arrangement. Above is a picture of the arrangement I completed that day.  

Fuff

I've been meaning to try making vegetable puffs using frozen puff pastry dough for... oh... two years now.  Finally did it this evening with a simple potato, peas and carrots filling. They were delightful.

Six "fuffs" cooling on a tray.

A bite with tomato sauce.  Not far behind sits a contented man, three fuffs down.

Outing: Tennessee Valley Trail

This past Sunday, Caylie led us on spring plant walk along the Tennessee Valley Trail off the Marin Headlands.  We learned to identify native plants and discover their medicinal properties.  
The trail was lovely with gently sloping hills on both sides that were a riot of wildflowers.  But it was hot, hot, hot!
This view kept me going until...
... nirvana.

On shaky grounds

Last week in the city:

Putting Down Roots (Golden Gate Park)

At Dusk (Eastern End of Clement Street)

Warm April Day at the Marina

Outing: Berkeley botanical gardens

Nancy, at the entrance to the gardens on a glorious April day.
As we overheard a passing visitor exclaim: "South Africa is off the charts this year!"  And so it was.  Above is a picture of the garden devoted to plants native to South Africa, one of the world's five regions with mediterranean-like climes.  The others are parts of Australia, Chile, around the Mediterranean sea and Northern California.
Our picnic lunch.

Cupcakes!

I have been wanting to try this recipe for so long now!  I am so glad I did and better yet, paid attention to the reviews and tips.  They really made a difference.  I added a teaspoon of baking powder to the batter and halved the amount of ganache.  Here is a picture post-production:

And here are a dozen chocolate cupcakes cooling off!

Soul food

Hands-down, favorite eatery in town, Sol Food, on Lincoln and 3rd. We've been there four times in two weeks and I always get the vegetarian platter with salad greens, rice and pink pinto beans with spanish olives and bananas prepared two ways: sweet and with garlic. The food hasn't stayed long enough on the plate to pose for a picture.  Maybe next time.

Weekday lunch for two

The ultimate compliment: "This tastes like what you might get at a restaurant!"  But of course, when you eat out you want it to taste just like home-cooked food.

P.S. I wonder if Easwar will recognize the checkered plate.

On shaky grounds

Last week in the city:

Acu

Heady Spring Jasmine

Miette, the candy store in Hayes Valley

In progress

With the $1-a-yard fabric I found on Craigslist I finally went to work making a slipcover for the love seat.  Roughly eight hours into the project and I am still cutting and basting.  It is going to be a while till this actually hits the sewing machine.  But its well begun and (nearly) half done.

Granola

Third time's the charm!  Four cups of oats, cashewnuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds and slivered almonds tossed with vegetable oil, honey, brown sugar and vanilla essence and toasted for 20 minutes on two baking sheets; topped with dried cranberries and dates.  It fills the large glass jar and lasts two weeks.  We can't get enough of it.

Kundzed

kundz'd n. v. adj.

Meaning: To be thwarted.

Example: Excited about an antique Jenny Lind bed we found on Craigslist, we bought it, came home and assembled it.  When we put our twin mattress on it, we found out that the bed was a true antique and the mattress fell short by six inches on the width and by three inches on the length.  We got kundzed.

Alternative usage: Kundz happened.

See for yourself.

Back to square one.

Shingara Balu at 70

Photo Courtesy: Kutty Uncle

Happy birthday Appa!

Let's start with a thick slice of bread

Layer on a mini omelette. Top with broccoli rabe sauteed with green onions and crushed red pepper.  Garnish with black olives (these were cured by Charlotte--thank you!).  Lunch.

Soup to nuts

Did not wait a week to make the soup after all.  The recipe for 'Leek and Chervil soup' called for the winter vegetable stock and promised to showcase it.  And that it did!  I added some cooked brown rice instead of flour (to thicken) and parsley instead of chervil--a recommended substitution. It was truly one of the best soups I've had. Thank you Deborah Madison.  Thank you Edward Espe Brown.

Stock first, soup next... maybe

Above: ingredients for a winter vegetable stock on the stove.  The recipe is from "The Greens Cookbook" which I bought recently  (the parsnip soup was a winner except I think I mistakenly used turnips instead--oh well). Anyway, I realized after chopping vegetables for an hour and generating two gallons of parings for compost, that stock isn't supposed to be made this way. Ideally ingredients should be gathered over a week or two, frozen, till you are ready to assemble them into a stock.  Maybe I'll recover by next week and use all that good stock in a soup.  Or maybe not.

Something Attempted, Something Done

My blog title is a line from an old favorite poem "The Village Blacksmith" by H. W. Longfellow. It appears in this verse:

Toiling, --rejoicing, --sorrowing,

Onward through life he goes;

Each morning sees some task begin,

Each evening sees it close;

Something attempted, something done,

Has earned a night's repose.

I wanted to title the blog, "Something Attempted, Nothing Done" but my resolution for the year is to be a little more optimistic.