a dream

I know you've got one . . . everyone does. A little dream that you've held on to for a long time that may not make sense at all and may not be in the least bit realistic, but it's a dream. When you think of it, it makes you smile. You know what I'm talking about. I've seen that faraway look in your eye . . .

I've got a silly dream, one that I've had since I was a little girl.

I want a chicken. Maybe two or three.

Definitely not to eat, mind you. But to cluck and scratch and peck around my garden. I would like to get up in the morning and greet my hens with the sun, gather the fresh eggs for the day, and then sit and watch them cluck and scratch and peck around the garden some more. Doesn't that sound perfectly wonderful? I think so.

There are many barriers to this dream, most of all being my sweet hubby's disapproval, not to mention the city ordinances against farm animals in backyards. However, there's a reason this dream keeps coming to the surface of my thoughts day after day. Let me introduce you to Dr. Phil.


Not what you expected, huh? :) She is the pet chicken of one of our neighbors, living in peace in their backyard (with a very tall fence). She's very sweet for a renegade and even let me hold her recently. Sometimes when I'm on my morning walk, if I'm lucky, I hear her soft, happy chicken sounds. I am in love.

So, in honor of my dream and Dr. Phil, today I made scrambled eggs for dinner. They were delicious. Whip a little soy milk into your eggs while scrambling and you will not believe how fluffy they turn out. Yummy.

And so, to round out an already unusual post, I leave you with an excerpt from a poem by Barbara Kingsolver - one of my favorite authors and a fellow chicken aficionado. (Didn't know she wrote poetry, too, did you? She's a genius. If you have not yet read Prodigal Summer, go now and get it from the library. One of my all time favorite books.)

APOTHEOSIS

There are days when I am envious of my hens;
when I hunger for a purpose as perfect and sure
as a single daily egg.

If I could only stand in the sun,
scratch the gravel and blink and wait
for the elements within me to assemble,
asking only grain I would
surrender myself to the miracle
of everyday incarnation: a day of my soul
captured in yolk and shell.


Amen, sister.

hey hey hey paaaarty!

Last weekend we celebrated the beginning of summer with dear friends by hosting an easy-going, picnic-food, backyard party. It was a blast!

And let me tell you, being a veggie lover in the summer is simply bliss. It's so dang easy to create wonderful food for your friends since everything is so fresh. If you are thinking about hosting a party for friends - herbivores or omnivores - here's some ideas, all of which I've already talked about here (click on the links for recipes). So let me just pull the details together for you.

The night before our gathering, I created these beauties. Big fun to put together and so pretty:

 

I drizzled with olive oil, covered with plastic wrap and put in the fridge to stay fresh until we were ready to grill. Then, once over the hot coals, I drizzled with the pineapple/olive oil glaze. Fabulously yummy!

Also on the night before, I created a big bowl of citrus orzo pasta salad. It's so refreshing and a great compliment to the smoky, hot stuff from the grill.

And, just before everyone arrived, I chopped up a big bunch of colorful new potatoes, sprinkled with olive oil and fresh rosemary, and started them roasting in the oven. I do like potatoes on the grill, but to make a large amount it takes too dang long to cook and takes up so much space on the grill. Roasting in the oven is so simple and I can pretty much ignore them while I have fun goofing around with my friends until dinner.

My sweetie got cookin' at the grill and sizzled up burgers, veggie and otherwise. (These friends of ours are so great, they even brought their own meat!) We provided buns, cheese, toppings, etc.

I put out some fresh veggies and tzatiki dip plus cute little pretzel balls for everyone to snack on while the grill stuff cooked. Our friends brought over more veggie side dishes, loads of gorgeous fresh fruit, and tasty little desserts to round out our feast. Wonderful.

Beyond the fabulous food, just time together enjoying the evening, watching the kiddos run around in the yard with bubbles, rolling a few bocce balls, and lounging on the patio was wonderful. We ate and laughed and talked until way after the sun had set. Perfect. What summer is all about.

opposite

Here's the opposite of my last lengthy post:

Sometimes I really need a sweet treat. Doesn't everyone?

 

Let me recommend pomegranate jelly beans. Perfectly sweet/tart/juicy and only 4 calories each! They pack such a tasty punch that only 3 or 4 fill the bill. Yum!

a quest

Perhaps you are wondering what broke the spell - what exactly got my cooking mojo rolling again this month? I'm happy to share. It's a bit of a long story . . .

After weeks of grey, soggy skies, a swampy garden, a nasty sinus infection, home reconstruction projects turning the house upside down, and just all around funk from one of my favorite months being filled with so much rain and chaos, I decided I needed to take action. My creativity, my appetite, and my energy were totally flat. Sometimes creativity feels so effortless - a virtual wellspring of ideas bubbles in my mind and flows from my fingertips. Sometimes I've just got nothin'. I have to go in search of, on a quest. So, that's what I decided to do.

Let me backtrack a little bit . . . The one major bonus of a rainy May was that I read voraciously. My favorite was a feast of a book: The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton. Published in 1962 and recently described as a "rediscovered classic," this finely crafted work captured my imagination and was a true delight to read. In one part of the story, the main male character goes on a quest of his own. His wife creates food for his journey, ". . . a bag of provender - onions, potatoes, a side of bacon, and two loaves of bread still warm from the oven." (Doesn't that sound good? Just hold the bacon for me, please.)

Provender. A new word for me, an interesting one. It sounds like a mix of provisions and lavender. Hmmmm. I looked it up to learn more and found that it means feed at it's most basic definition, or viands, victuals at a more esoteric level. I really liked learning this and the reminder that food for a journey - even just the daily experiences of life - not only needs to feed the body, but nourish and bolster the spirit. The vital essence of life.

After weeks of subsisting on the most basic of meals, I needed to go on a quest. A search for really good food for my family and for my soul.

Deep stuff, huh? :)

So, I went to my local Costco with provender on my mind. (I initially wanted to go to the Farmer's Market, but it was pouring again.) I purposely stepped out of my routine pattern of shopping and walked up and down every single aisle searching for something special, waiting for inspiration to strike.

And then I found it. Chapati. Indian flat bread. One of the world's most basic of foods, eaten by millions of people, a staple for any meal of the day but also a blank slate for creativity. My provender!

I hugged the package of uncooked chapati to my chest and then proceeded to fill up my cart with just about every single organic fruit and vegetable the store had to offer. I had ideas coming fast.

When I got home, I called for Miss M to come to the kitchen. I knew she would love to create with me. And, she did. The chapati dough is very thin and light (about half the density of a tortilla) and only takes about 2 minutes to cook on the stove. No oil is needed, just a medium-hot skillet and a quick flip. When the chapati is ready, it puffs up beautifully and aromatically, just asking for something beautiful to wrap inside.

 

We initially filled our chapati with a light spread of hummus, a sprinkle of feta, and some crisp spinach leaves. One bite and we both moaned with delight. So! Incredibly! Delicious! So amazing, in fact, that we both ate standing over the sink. Too good to sit down. I tried to get a better picture of our first chapati, but we were both gobbling it up so quick that it's a wonder I got this one at all.

 

We made more that evening and then the next day, savoring chapati at every meal. Chapati with cinnamon, sugar and sliced strawberries for breakfast. Chapati with chopped cucumber and carrots, topped with tzatiki for lunch. Chapati with hummus, falafel, and spinach for dinner. All of it incredibly good.

Since those first few days of discovering my personal provender, we've slowed down on the chapati. Yes, it has become a staple in our fridge and is a wonder when we need a quick and fabulous meal. But, best of all, setting the intention to seek out unique and nourishing food has opened up so many ideas for creative expression. And, not only in my kitchen. In my garden, home, volunteer service, art. My inner wellspring is overflowing. I am so thankful.

encore

It was a long and arduous day at work yesterday, so being outside in the evening was extra delicious. Having leftover citrus orzo pasta awaiting us in the fridge was a fabulous treat. (It really does seem to get better after an extra day of chilling.) Encore, I say!

The grill beckoned on the patio . . . so when I asked my sweetie if he would like to cook us up some burgers (veggie and otherwise) to go with the pasta salad, the man got moving! So fast that I hardly had time to create the additional side dish I had been dreaming of: veggie kabobs. But, with some speedy action, I got this on the grill:

 

As you can see, I didn't have time for a lot of variety. I just chopped up some sweet peppers and skewered them alternately with pineapple. I improvised a quick glaze to drizzle on to prevent the goodies from drying out and getting too charred.

 

Thankfully, it was delicious! It's just extra virgin olive oil whisked together with reserved pineapple juice, garlic, and a dash of sea salt.

A few minutes later, we had a savory, citrusy, delicious dinner ready to go. The true beauty of outdoor cooking in the summer. I. Love. It.

summertime

Hey people! Happy summer! Please accept my gift to you (as I've been a very delinquent blogger this last month) - a summertime scratch n' sniff:

 

Can't you just smell the sweet and beautiful juiciness? :)

These gorgeous oranges coupled with the first lush days of the season (thank you rain, rain for going away) inspired me to create a summertime classic at our home: citrus orzo pasta salad. I was just thinking about it and then my sister asked me to bring it to our family's Memorial Day gathering. Perfect.

The recipe is one I created, modeled after a chilled salad served at a local grocery store deli. It's so deliciously simple that I thought, I can make this. So can you.

Citrus Orzo Pasta Salad

1 package (16 oz) orzo pasta
Juice and zest from 1 - 2 fresh, plump oranges
1 cup golden raisins
3 ribs celery, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
extra virgin olive oil
dash pepper

Get your big pasta pot bubbling and toss in the orzo once the water is boiling. When al dente, drain and rinse in cold water. Face the fact that orzo is tiny and you will have a smattering of the little tiny pastas that escape your colander. No worries. Pour the orzo back into your large pot and drizzle with olive oil to prevent sticking. Then, drizzle with the fresh orange juice (add more or less depending on the size of your oranges and citrus taste preference) and zest away!

A note on zesting - it's very fun. And somewhat addictive. But, don't get carried away and start zesting the pithy white stuff into your pasta. A gentle hand, and some restraint, is needed here. My Mom gave my dear friend Wendy and I the same zester as a holiday gift a long time ago . . . both of us agree it's one of our favorite kitchen implements. Plus, it's fun to look at the world through the many eyes of your zester:

 

Finally, dump the golden raisins, chopped celery and green onions into your pot and sprinkle with a dash of pepper. Stir everything together and pour into a lovely serving bowl. Add a garnish of thinly sliced orange if you are feeling fancy. Chill and serve cold.

 

Enjoy immensely!

gratitude

How grateful I am for this:

 

The first lovely, delicate lettuce of the season, purchased yesterday from a charming, elderly gentleman farmer. Gratitude for the beauty and freshness of these greens, gratitude for the farmer. Gratitude for the first farmer's market of the season, gratitude for Spring!

And, gratitude for this tiny beauty growing in our garden:

 

It's a beautiful sight to see.

I love berry salads but am not a fan of the thick, sugary, goopy dressings that are often served with said salads. Recently, I decided to experiment (fancy that) and see what I could do with the bare minimum to dress a strawberry salad. Let me tell you, the result is bliss.

Meg's Spring Strawberry Salad

1 bunch of the freshest Spring greens you can find (or grow your own!)
1 bunch gorgeous strawberries, sliced thin
Raw pecans
Fresh chevre (Oh, how I love a really fine goat cheese! Buy the best you can afford. Cheap chevre tastes like wet goat fur.)
Extra virgin olive oil
Raspberry wine vinegar

Gently wash your Spring greens and give them a spin. Tear into bite-sized pieces. Watch out for kittens on the prowl. (As I was preparing my fresh -as in still graced with fine Kansas dirt- greens this evening, my kitty pounced on the counter, snagged a piece of lettuce, and ran off to devour it. That was certainly a first! She knows good greens when she smells them!)

Lovingly arrange the greens in your favorite salad bowls and generously sprinkle with sliced strawberries, pecans, and tiny dollops of chevre.

To dress, drizzle with very small amounts of both olive oil and raspberry vinegar. That's all. No goop needed. The amazing flavors of Spring will shine through!

Take a look at this beauty of a salad:

 

We ate our salads on the patio this evening, amidst the scent of lilacs on a gentle breeze. The house finches who are nesting in the evergreens around our patio watched us dine. It was a beautiful Spring night, a beautiful Spring meal. I am truly grateful!

PS - fix this for your Mama for Mother's Day and she will be dazzled!