Take Me for a Ride

Maybe if I hide. . .

I won't be seen . . .

Take me for a ride --

After all, I am the Queen!

A Garden Capture

I was in the garden when I saw a puzzling something zig-zag past, closely followed by a hummingbird.  When the something landed, I saw that it was a dragonfly that had captured a butterfly . . . and was proceeding to eat it.

I have a fondness for dragonflies -- they eat mosquitoes, you know -- but I'd never, ever seen one nab a butterfly.

He (or she) stayed put as I got closer and closer . . .

It was fascinating; two beautiful insects . . . The dragon fly, a sinister high-tech helicopter, the butterfly, a hapless damsel . . .

  Exquisite colors and patterns caught up in macabre dance of death.

More Fun With Milk

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey. . .

 

Here's a fun bit of kitchen chemistry that you can do to produce your own curds and whey.

Call it panir or queso blanco or vinegar cheese -- this is the quickest, simplest cheese imaginable.

Heat a gallon of milk to 190 F (just short of a boil.) Off heat; add a half cup of vinegar or lemon juice. Almost immediately the milk will separate into curds and whey.

Let the curds and whey cool a bit, then spoon the curds into a colander lined with cheesecloth ( or a white handkerchief.) The whey can be saved and used in cooking or, as I do, to moisten the dogs' kibble.

Add a teaspoon of salt to the curds, You can also add a little cream and whatever herbs or spices appeal to you. For this batch I used some herbs de Provence. Chives would be nice; Justin once made a batch using tarragon vinegar and it was wonderful!

Vinegar cheese is mild --- some might say bland. I find it delicious.  You can stir it into pasta or use it in cooking but be aware that it doesn't actually melt -- not a great pizza topping. It keeps about a week in the refrigerator.

 

Light at Play.

***

***

***

***

Salad Caprese

It's the perfect tomato salad, as far as I'm concerned.  But you need perfect tomatoes -- tomatoes with superlative taste.  I used heirloom tomatoes from our garden but more and more farmers' markets and grocery stores are carrying these luscious varieties -- almost always locally grown because these big tender tomatoes don't ship well.

Tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil. olive oil (extra-virgin), and salt (sea) are the basic ingredients in this delightful salad from Capri. Purists insist on buffalo mozzarella but I say it's pretty amazingly good with plain old fresh cow mozzarella. ( And quite expensive enough. And while we're on the subject of expense, what's the difference between virgin and extra-virgin?)

But I digress.

I'm still dealing with tomatoes -- something over 60 quarts are canned and in the cellar; quite a few baggies of roasted maters are in the freezer;  and I think I'll make gazpacho tomorrow.

Such wealth!

Close Up

Seduced by. . .

When people ask why in the world John and I left the suburbs of Tampa where we were raised to buy a mountainside farm in North Carolina, I usually say that we were seduced by The Whole Earth Catalog and Mother Earth News.

I was cleaning out an unused cupboard the other day and there, along with a slide projector, a box full of change ($219.50), and a bunch of outdated reference books, were those amazing, life-changing catalogs.

 I still remember when I paged through the first Catalog -- suddenly everything seemed possible. I could order a yurt. . . or a book on building a log cabin. Soil test kits, coffee grinders, a guide to film making, common sense childbirth arts and crafts, a ship captain's medical guide (useful when one is days or weeks from medical assistance,)  Snugli baby carriers, underwater prospecting techniques, Cuisinaire rods, the I Ching . . .

Access to Tools, the Catalog's subtitle promised. And though I had a college degree, I quickly realized how very much more there was to learn. English lit was all very well but the Catalog laid out a tempting smorgasbord of potentialities -- art, craft, homesteading, design, engineering, practical philosophy. Our horizons expanded

Obviously, we were drawn to the back-to- the-land niche ( though there was a brief flirtation with the idea of living on a boat. . .) Many of the books on our shelves today were ordered on the Catalog's recommendation.

Now, of course, the Internet offers almost unlimited access to tools and learning.  But I can't bring myself to part with these iconic bits of our past.  And who knows -- they may yet inspire me toward something else.

A Weighty Question

I don't know . . .

What do you think?

Does this paint job make my butt look big?

Bzzzz . . .

. . . bzzz . . .

. . . bzzz . . .

. . .bzzz . . .

. . . bzzzy day!

And the winners of the bound galleys are Joan in NZ, Merisi in Vienna,  NCmountainwoman, and Deanna in Missouri!  Congratulations and you all will need to send a snail mail address  to  vicki__laneATmtnareaDOTnet