six steps to blackberry crisp a la mode

1. Search each berry patch, looking for the one(s) with the most ripe berries.

2. Pick the ripest berries, one by one. Pick one. Eat one.

3. Admire the berries and eat a few handfuls.

4. Place in baking dish, add a bit of sugar and a couple of tablespoons of flour.
Then add crisp topping (see below for recipe).

5. Bake in 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. 

6. Add two (small) scoops of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy.
Then, wake up tomorrow morning and go pick some more berries before it gets too hot.

The recipe for the Crisp Topping comes from my all-time favorite cookbook author: Deborah Madison. I own (and often use) every one of her cookbooks. This comes from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Crisp Topping
6 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats or chopped nuts (I use both)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional

Using your fingers or the paddle attachment of a mixer, work the butter with the rest of the ingredients so that each piece is coated and you have a course, crumbly mixture. Use it to cover a shallow gratin dish of sliced fruit (or just-picked blackberries).

Where Did June Go?

Summer Feet, photo by Mary (Instagram)

Summer Days When You are Eleven

My two youngest nieces came for a couple of days' visit to Farm Dover. (Their two older sisters were off at a horse competition.) Do you remember what summer days were like when you were 11?

They cooked crazy things like kiwi on a stick dipped in chocolate, they drove the Polaris really fast and swerved all over the place, they painted-by-number horse pictures and then made silly pictures with the left-over paint, they picked carrots from the garden and bought candy bars at the grocery and then froze them. They hid in the secret compartment of the bench seat. They stayed up late. And they giggled, alot. Ahhh, to be young and it to be summer....

Come back soon girls. We loved having you.
xxx Aunt Deb and Uncle Ed

A Walk Through the Garden on a Summer's Eve

So much is happening in our garden these days. Baby carrots are turning into unruly teenaged ones; big, round beets are being harvested and roasted daily; spinach is growing faster than I can pick it; the cilantro and parsley are threatening to bolt on me; the 27 tomato plants are bearing hundreds of green tomatoes and some are beginning to show signs of turning red – long before the 4th of July; the tiny basil plants that I put in the raised bed just two weeks ago are soaking up the sunshine and showing signs of robustness; and the sunflowers grow half a foot every day, I swear.  To top it all off, this evening, I harvested my first crop of garlic.

Here's a look around.

My cutting garden: the zinnias are growing so fast that you don't see the weeds underneath!

Despite the dirt, you can just smell an Italian meal in the making...

The first summer squash. I suspect in a week's time, I'll have squash galore.

I didn't really expect any raspberries this first season,
but looks like Ed will have enough to top a bowl of ice cream.

Maggie brought me three ground cherry plants to experiment with.
The tomoato-like plants produce small, orange fruit covered in papery husk.

Before popping into your mouth, you peel back the husk from the ground cherry.
The flavor is a pleasant tomato/pineapple-like blend.

Note to self: buy bacon. Almost BLT season.

The sunflowers are taller than me.

Uncorked

The family across the street had been making wine since 1930 (according to the label) and brought a bottle over to give to us. I can't remember if it was a special occasion -- perhaps the birth of our first baby girl -- or not. The year was 1987. We put the bottle away to save for a time in the future. We moved away. We lost contact with our neighbors. By now, their three young children would be in their 30s -- off living lives of their own, perhaps making wine to share with their friends.

We carted the bottle from our home on Don Allen Road to the one on Natchez, to the one on Rainbow, to the one on Calumet and finally, to Farm Dover. Each time, wondering about the contents of the bottle and when we would finally uncork it.

The decision was made for us. We had placed the bottle on its side in our kitchen wine rack and I noticed a few splashes of wine on the counter. The cork had decomposed, allowing the wine to seep out. It was time -- or perhaps past time -- for the uncorking.

So, on Saturday afternoon, we uncorked the Pregliasco bottle of wine. Out flowed the wine -- along with a flood of memories of our life on Don Allen Road: our dating days (and months and years), raking leaves in the front yard and barbecueing in the back, the early days of our marriage, the birth of our first precious baby, Octoberfest celebrations held in the street, the old couple next door, strolling with other new moms and their babies around and around the block....

I love our new life in the country, but I treasure the memories of our lives in other places, other homes. So on Saturday, Ed and I raised a toast to all those good memories and to the friends who helped make them -- and to those who made the wine. Cheers to the Familia Pregliasco!

Reconnecting

One of the best parts about our recent trip to Germany was the chance to reconnect with our son Jack, who has spent the last year teaching high school in Hagen, Germany, and with some of our German friends.

First, some photos with Jack...

Father and son at the Pompidou Centre in Paris

...And with his mama in the Jardin des Tuileries

Celebrating sister Mary's 21st birthday

Sightseeing with the whole group, including Aunt Gay

We also had the good fortune to reconnect with our German friend Tilman and his terrific family, spending the day with them tromping around historic Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Barvaria.

With Tilmon, his wife, and five of his six children

While in Munich, we caught up with Max and his girlfriend, Christina.

Years ago, Max was an exchange student at Louisville Collegiate.

And we had a reunion dinner with Laura and her family. Laura was an au pair for our friends Evan and Amelia last year in Louisville, and her family has been exceedingly welcoming to Jack this year.

Dinner in Dusseldorf with Laura and her family

So here's to travel -- and to reconnecting with family and friends.

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Sunrise on Farm Dover

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

from New and Selected Poems, 1992
Beacon Press, Boston, MA

Please Pass the Peas...

Caged vs. Free Range

Our 27 tomato plants are stuck in their cages....

...while the wild turkeys range freely, building their nest wherever they wish.

Lettuce Eat!

An Eye for Detail

While I was constantly looking for ways to capture the big concepts of our trip...

...Mary's eye was trained on the details.

Milchkaffee, the perfect way to start the day in Germany.

A box of assorted macaroons – a birthday treat.

A lazy Sunday afternoon at a cafe in Munich.

Peonies at the market in Munich

White asparagus, celebrated for a short time in May at every restaurant in Germany.

Repetto shoes on display at a small shop around the corner from our Paris hotel.

Cherries at the market.

Portrait of her parents, at Chateau les Aulnois in Pierry pres Epernay

 

Sibling Travel

As you may recall, I took a trip with my three sisters in January. It was the first time we had traveled together in many, many years.  We had all been busy with our own lives – raising children, working, home making -- and just hadn't had (or made) the time to be together for a week. It was great fun and a chance to get reacquainted with the grown-up versions of each other.

So, I was particularly pleased when Ed suggested that we ask his sister Gay to come along with us on our European adventure. She said she was up for it and immediately applied for her passport. I think she had a great time -- she certainly was a good sport, walking miles each day and stopping ever so often for a beer (or, in her case, an Apfelschorle, half apple juice/half carbonated water). You will have to ask her what she really thought of the trip. I know we enjoyed having her along.

 Siblings Gay and Ed, with Notre Dame in the background.

Siblings Mary and Jack, at the same location.

Ed and Gay under the beech trees near Epinay, France. That's Mary climbing in the tree above.

Brother and Sister, pausing for some refreshments in Munster, Germany

Sister and Brother, taking a break on the city hall steps in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Jack and Mary in Bamberg, Germany

Why Travel?

I know I promised you a recap of our trip. And it will come. I just can't seem to tackle the "wholeness" of it. So many places, so many good times, so much catching up with Jack and German friends....Maybe I'll break it up and tackle it by subject. Stay tuned...

But today, I want to tell you about Mary's 21st birthday dinner in Paris. We had made a reservation at L’Ambassade d’Auvergne – a restaurant in the Marais neighborhood where we were staying – so it was only about a 10-minute walk from our hotel. Jack joined us for the weekend, making it even more special. Mary's Aunt Gay (Ed's sister) was with us as well.

I could tell you how we toasted Mary with her first (legal) cocktail, a house-special aperitif.

Or, I could tell you how we chose this restaurant because Ed and I had dined there 15 years ago and still remember the Pommes Aligot, cheesy mashed potatoes that the staff whips up tableside.

Pommes Aligot

Or, I could tell you how the entire room broke into a funny french rendition of "Happy Birthday" when Mary's pear tart was delivered with a single candle in it.

A lovely 21-year-old!

But what I really want to tell you is about the lentil salad that Mary ordered as her first course. I haven't stopped thinking about it. It came in a big bowl and she was served two perfect oval scoops. Then our waitress offered the rest of the table a taste, before leaving the bowl on the table.

This lentil salad captures the essence of why I travel: food. Our travels inspire me to try to recreate the dishes that I fall in love with as we we make our way from city to village to countryside. The special dishes and meals also allow me to remember – and relive – our travels.

So yesterday, when I realized that I had some lentils in my pantry I knew I had to try my hand at re-engineering the lentil salad of L'Ambassade d'Auvergne. I cooked the lentils for about 30 minutes, drained them, and gave them a splash of red wine vinegar. Then I sauteed some prosciutto (bacon would work as well), adding a small onion, a carrot (the first from my garden), and a stalk of celery. To a quarter cup of olive oil, I added a heaping teaspoon of french mustard, some salt and pepper – stirring that into lentil mixture.

Earlier in the day, I had harvested my first crop of beets and had cooked up a mess of beet greens. My final dish included a bed of sauteed beet greens, a topping of lentil salad and a sprinkle of feta cheese.

Beets from my garden, first harvest.

Here's my real test of how close I came to the original. If I close my eyes and take a bite, can I transport my mind back to that special night in Paris? Oui, je peux!

And that's why I travel. What about you?

Makes Me Smile

We are just back from 15 days in France and Germany, visiting with Jack and celebrating Mary's 21st birthday.  I'll fill you in as soon as we get our suitcases unpacked, laundry going, the 18-inch grass cut, the garden weeded...

My breakfast egg at the Hotel Hornburg Garni in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

This Morning's Breakfast – Straight from the Patch