Garden Grace

Earth who gave us all this food

Sun who made it ripe and good

Dear Earth

Dear Sun

We'll not forget what you have done.

Edmonds Waterfront

A pair of wool socks and my sunburn from yesterday are keeping me warm in today's cool rainy weather. Its a good thing that I made it out yesterday to enjoy the sunshine, on Edmond's waterfront.

The sweet town of Edmonds - not just for the old folks!

boat moorage

watching hopeful fishermen lining the dock

If its Wednesday, look for the Here and There mobile food truck, one block south of Main Street

chubby baby feet don't mind the cold water

Wandering the Internet

This is a break from the usual programming. After anxiously waiting for almost a week, my new camera has arrived via UPS and I have become a better photographer overnight. This new beauty is going to take some playing around with before I know exactly what I am doing, so please give me some time off while I figure out how to get my photos off of the camera and onto the computer.

In the meantime, I will take you with me on my internet wanderings this week.

First, I would like to introduce you to the hilariousness that is Everywhereist, a laid off copy editor who stays busy traveling, documenting the "dick moves" of various peoples, and being FRIGGIN' Hilarious. (Also, she is whom I stole the idea from to not write about food or gardening today, and instead post this road map into my world wide web wanderings)

I also stole this idea from her: check out this great photographer and her online gallery. I especially like the image of the bear with the bag on his head.

Lastly, after attending an event for "food enthusiasts" last week, I have been obsessing over a zucchini recipe, served by Tom Douglas catering. Like anyone who is dumb enough to plant more than one zucchini plant, I have more zucchini than any reasonable person can possibly eat, so I am always looking for new recipes and this one was killer!

I tried to recreate it and mine wasn't as good (even so, I still had a lunch guest ask me for the recipe four times before she left the house, when I served my version this week). After the failed recreation, I looked for similar recipes on the internet, but mistakenly thought it was called "zuppa" when it was really "zupetta."

So, I resorted to the last thing I could think to do: I harassed the chef from Tom Douglas' catering company, via twitter and his blog, until he posted the recipe for me. Success! Come to think of it, harassing people over the computer has landed me at least one other "secret" recipe, and even a job. Now you too can make this creamy, tangy, lovely Zupetta.

How to Enjoy Your Wedding Day

It is summer season here in the Pacific Northwest, where every couple crosses their fingers for a rain-free wedding day. In honor of my own wedding anniversary this week, I am sharing my best advice for a low stress wedding day.

All of this advice is best given far in advance of the actual day, so I don't try to advise the brides that I work with (did you know that I coordinate wedding ceremonies?). Here are my top five tips for a low-stress, enjoyable wedding day:

{1} Find the money in your budget for a great wedding photographer. This is the one area where you would be best served finding someone you are really impressed with, and paying up the big bucks. A good wedding photographer will get the rights shots QUICKLY and unobtrusively. Everyone (and your future offspring) wants nice photos to remember the day, and there are no do-overs.

{2} Do what you can afford. Stay with your budget. Keep some perspective. Unless you're Kimora, five thousand dollars for a dress is never a good deal.

{3} Be classy. Don't print your registry information on the back of your invitation. Don't have a cash bar. Don't make unreasonable demands on your bridesmaids. Don't do anything on your bachelor(ette) eve that should "stay in Vegas."

{4} Plan, plan, plan some more. Obsess over details, if you must. But when the wedding day arrives, let go and allow everything to unfold as it will. This is an exercise in grace. Which brings me to my last suggestion...

{5} Have a mantra and say it often. This is a chance to decide just exactly what is important to you on your wedding day, and then stay on track to make it happen. My mantra was "I am cool, calm, and full of grace." It was more important to me that my future in-laws remembered their new daughter and sister as "full of grace" than it was for every detail to go exactly as I had envisioned. What is your highest priority for your wedding day?

all photos except of wedding dress corset detail are by Heather Gilson of One Love Photo

(Why am I making) Roasted Cauliflower (summer is not over)

Congrats to Lisa for winning the seeds for her fall and winter seeds! I used a random generator to pull a number, and of course, it gave me #3, which is my own comment! I knew that would happen. Thankfully, it choose a different number on the second try.

As always, summer time is breezing by. I have started my fall and winter seeds and will transplant them when they are a few inches high. I am re-purposing cardboard egg cartons for my seed starts.

I have "Bright Lights" Chard, my favorite variety of peppery salad cress, and three colors of cauliflower (the "chef's choice" blend has white, green and purple cauliflower varieties together in the same packet) all from Botanical Interests. Also, I could not resist ordering a Purple Peacock broccoli-kale cross (from Territorial Seed). Check out the color on this plant!


When my cauliflower is ready for harvest, I like to roast it with red onions, and then fold in a few tablespoons of tahini (sesame seed paste), and the juice of one lemon. Tahini can be found at most large grocery stores, check in the "ethnic" food aisle. It will keep for a long time in the refrigerator and can be used to make hummus or salad dressings.

To roast the cauliflower, break it up into pieces, add one half of sliced red onion, toss with a tablespoon or two of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt. Roast for about an hour, at 375 degrees, until it is nice and toasty brown.

Whisk together the lemon juice and tahini, and then fold into the roasted cauliflower and onion. This can be used as a hot side dish, or as a cold vegetable salad.

If this post has made you feel the chill of Autumn already, I apologize. Here is a collection of much more summery photos from this month. Enjoy it while it lasts!

My attempt at the rope swing wasn't as graceful as I had planned

Smitten Kitchen's lemon bars that I made last week, dressed up a bit with sliced Meyer lemons and fruit art 

 

babies love swings

Olive Oil Poached Potatoes with Herbs

I've never grown potatoes. I don't eat a lot of them, and when I do, they really are just a side dish. Just a starch to serve along side the actual food. Something to sop up sauce.

But this year, eager to put something in the ground before the weather warmed, I planted a few potatoes in the ground on Saint Patrick's day.

The vines grew, but I am sure that I did not take care of them like I should have. I think I was supposed to build them some sort of tower. Or maybe it was plant them in an old tire. I can't remember now.

Well, the vines began to wither last week, without ever flowering. I think they were supposed to flower, right? Well, I am on the prowl for winter garden space, so I started to yank out the vines. A few little potatoes popped out of the ground with the vines. Nice! But then, as I started to dig with my hands, more little potatoes revealed themselves, and then more still. It was like a muddy scavenger hunt.

my first little fingerling potatoes - from one plant!

Maybe I am easily entertained, but finding those little potatoes hidden beneath inconspicuous vines, was so fun that I am planning on giving them more room next year.  The best part about these little homegrown potatoes, is that they actually taste good too.

As you can see from this week's harvest basket (photo below), my garden is starting to produce more than just greens, greens and more greens. Today, I used most of that basket to make a version of Salad Nicoise for lunch, with smoked King salmon instead of tuna.

Yesterday's garden harvest

Instead of just boiling potatoes, I have been poaching them in olive oil and water. This makes for a very silky potato, rich in flavor. You can eat these as a side dish, or toss them in dressing while still warm, and make a salad with them. It works best with small waxy potatoes, left whole.

To oil-poach the potatoes, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a sauce pan, with a crushed clove of garlic and a tablespoon of chopped fresh herbs. I use whatever I have growing fresh, today it was rosemary, thyme and oregano. I have used just parsley, and that was great too.

Add the potatoes to the hot oil, with a half cup of water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it as it cooks. The goal is for the water to simmer off just as the potatoes finish cooking, leaving a teaspoon or two of olive oil coating the potatoes. Add a few more tablespoons of water if the potatoes begin to dry out before you can easily stick a fork in them.

Today's lunch: oil poached potatoes in salmon salad nicoise