Lovefest in the Azores

"Let's all go to the Azores," Maggie suggested way back in 2018. I'd never heard of this Portuguese archipelago of nine islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but, if it meant that our family could all be together, I was all over it. 

Turns out, the Azores are almost exactly half way between the east coast of the U.S., where Mary and Brian live, and Berlin, where Jack and Kasia live – only a 4.5 hour flight from both directions. Everyone raised their hands when we proposed a family vacation. And so the planning began. We were all going to the Azores for a week in mid-April 2020.  

We found a large modern house on São Miguel, the chief Azorean island. We booked airline flights and Hazel got her first passport. 

And then the month before our trip, Covid shut all travel down. We were not going to the Azores after all. 

For the next 18 months, we felt like we were in a perpetual state of quarantine. No travel to foreign destinations; no family reunions; and a great longing to be together. 

Toward the end of this past summer, with Covid rates down, we again imagined this trip. The original house was no longer being rented, a new person (Norbert) had joined our family and would need a passport, and schedules would need to be coordinated. Somehow we worked it out and booked our trip for October, 2021. 

I held my breath; trying hard not to get too excited about a trip that might not happen. But happen it did. 

On October 7, eight of the Galloway clan flew to Boston and then on to São Miguel, and two flew from Berlin -- meeting up at the small island airport early the next morning. After piling our luggage and ten  tall people into two small cars, we drove on narrow roads lined with thousands of hydrangeas to Sete Cidades, a charming village located on the west end of the island in the center of a massive volcanic crater.  Our house for the week was Casa Grande and it lived up to its name. Built in 1853, it has six bedrooms and is situated at the end of the slender strip of land that separates two colorful lakes, a 10-minute walk from a playground and the village. The house was surrounded by beautiful gardens.

The week flew by. It was filled with do-able hikes with two small children, swimming in thermal pools set among botanical gardens or salt-water seas protected by rock barriers, biking the mountainous countryside, eating platters of fresh seafood, touring pineapple and tea plantations, and exploring caves on the property of the house. But the best parts, at least for me, were seeing Hazel's enthusiasm over her first bus, train and airplane rides, a home-cooked birthday dinner for Brian, late-night card games, playing foxes in a blanket-covered den, sock puppet shows, morning snuggles, cocktails in the garden and some quality grandparenting afternoons back at the house. 

Being together as a family, after a hiatus of almost three years, was like one big lovefest. Hazel and Norbert had eight adults vying for the chance to play with them; our kids and their partners enjoyed some great outdoor adventures while Ed and I happily manned the fort back at the house with Norbert and Hazel. Our meals were full of delicious food and great conversation. Laughter abounded. It was an amazing week and I'm still pinching myself that we were able to pull it off.  

Logistics and highlights

SATA/Azores Airline: We flew out of Boston on the only airline that flies from the U.S. to the Azores. It leaves late in the evening, arriving early the next morning. Pretty low frills. On the way home, we didn't leave São Miguel until 6 p.m, arriving in Boston about 8 p.m., too late for a connecting flight. We stayed at a Marriott Hotel at the airport to make a 7 a.m. flight back to Cincinnati. 

Restaurants in Sete Cidades: The tiny town features four restaurants; one is a tea house and two are versions of a snack bar: Sao Nicolau and The Green Love Restaurant. Only one is a full restaurant:  Lagoa Azul. We liked them all. From the tea house, O Poejo, we purchased a very delicious carrot cake that served as Brian's birthday cake. 

Restaurants in Ponta Delgada: We had two very good seafood lunches in the capital city of Ponta Delgada, only about 30 minutes from our village. Restaurant TiXico and Cais 20. 

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São Miguel is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and I hope to go back someday soon. I leave you with some photos of our week together.

Feeling garden-giddy

Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate.  But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass 

Our efforts to appreciate and enhance nature at Farm Dover go all the way back to our first season here when Ed had the vison to take all the cropped fields out of production and return them to native grasses and wildflowers. No more corn; no more soybeans. Instead we planted native seeds in the open meadows and began to intentionally tend to field and forest, making them healthier for all who make their home here. This work of tending to our land – so satisfying – gives structure and purpose to our days and fills us with joy. 

Over the years we added walking paths around the meadows and through the woods. Year round we work to keep the invasive plants at bay and native ones thriving. Shortly after we moved to the country, we became landlords to Maggie's beehives and got interested in creating native gardens so her honey bees could find a ready source of pollen.

 

In 2016, with help from Margaret Shea of  Dropseed Native Plant Nursery, we planted our first bee garden, which really was just a flower-rich extension of the front meadow.

As the garden grew, we divided plants from it and moved them to the periphery of the meadows surrounding the house, adding color, structure and texture to the edges. 

Once we got going, it was hard to stop. Recently,  I've been feeling garden-giddy and compelled to create another garden. This time, I didn't choose the spot; it was chosen for me... 

Last year, we ordered a dump truck full of natural hardwood mulch from Natural Products, located in nearby LaGrange. The driver did not want to get off our gravel drive and would need to dump the eight cubic yards (small mountain) somewhere near the driveway's edge. We picked a spot in the tall meadow grasses between the original bee garden and orchard and hastily pinned down a tarp. With amazing accuracy, he dumped the entire load in the center of the tarp. 

It took us nearly a year to whittle down the pile, using it on all our gardens and around the planted bushes and trees. Once the pile was nearly gone, I peeked under the tarp to find a perfectly bare 12'x16' plot. It was like striking gold. We don't like to spray with herbicides, and to dig up an area this size in meadow grasses is no easy task. Our good luck: no need to spray or dig! We simply slid the tarp over to the next section of meadow and called for another load of mulch. I then put layers of newspaper down on the bare earth and spread three inches of mulch over it all. It was ready for planting.

I love dividing and moving perennials in the fall; it feels like shopping in my own backyard for free plants. Between our meadows and bee gardens, we have lots to chose from. We began by digging up some very tall ironweed from our fields and planting them in the back of the new space, adding some tall joe pye weed right next to the ironweed. Then I realized that I needed to give some thought to what to plant next. Seems I needed some inspiration...

Two weeks ago, my friend Pat Greer opened up her amazing gardens as part of Shelby County Co-op Extension's Good Neighbors Farm Tour. The day before the tour, I stopped by to drop off a large arrangement of compass flowers to welcome the visitors. Pat insisted on giving me a private tour of her nearly six acres of gardens. Regarding native plants, Pat has more passion, knowledge and energy than anyone I know. I came away with a wheelbarrow load of ideas that I wanted to try. 

The second source of inspiration came from our recent weekend in Chicago, where we roamed the Lurie Garden, a three-acre botanical garden at Millennium Park designed by renowned Dutch garden and landscape designer, Piet Oudolf. (He also designed NYC's High Line.) The naturalistic plantings were stunning.

Not only are Oudolf's landscapes amazing works of art, but his painterly design sketches I'd gladly frame and hang on our walls. I find his shapes and circles "groovy."

So taking page from Piet Oudolf, I pulled out Uncle Eddie's 50-year-old box of Prismacolor pencils and set to work, creating my own groovy garden plan. 

The new garden is now fully planted. It looks a bit sparse, only because we cut off most of the foliage so the transplants can concentrate on putting down good roots. The plants will spread, hopefully covering every square inch of the garden, blocking out weeds. 

The privilege of working in this new garden this week is not lost on me. I find gratification in the process and peace and pleasure in every step along the way. 

It will be next spring before I can discover if the garden design is pleasing. If not, I'll simply move the plants on to another spot and fill in with plants from elsewhere on Farm Dover. It's a never-ending cycle; one that transforms the bounties of this place and, along the way, transforms this gardener too. 

Bloom where you're planted (or randomly scattered)

Mother Nature works in strange ways, always asserting her will; sometimes against mine. Most times we work in tandem: She providing the her life-giving and nurturing force and me providing the sweat and tears of bringing my garden produce to fruition. 

Somehow a single viable seed made its way from our compost bin into our strawberry bed. I suspect it was in the humus Ed spread over the raised bed in the spring of 2020. There it lay for more than a year, before deciding to break out of its seed coat and put down a slender root and then a shoot, which turned into a vine and leaves. Since I had nothing to do with the appearance of this sprawling vine, I didn’t know what fruit this mysterious vine would produce. 

In June, large yellow flowers appeared and our trusty honey bees took it from there, transferring pollen from the male flowers to the stigma of the female ones. Baby melons of some sort began to grow, and grow, and grow. They looked like cantaloupe; they smelled like cantaloupe. Last week, I harvested the first of three melons. 

I kept my expectations low as I sliced it open. Yep, it was a cantaloupe, alright. Its deep orange flesh tasted better than anything we’ve ever bought at Kroger, or even at a farmers’ market. I immediately became a proud cantaloupe mom, showing off this gorgeous thing that came out of my garden. (I had to be reminded that I had nothing to do with this amazing garden offspring.)

We ate it for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner. I bragged about it to my kids. 

Mary (who doesn’t even like cantaloupe) sent me a link to a New York Times recipe for No-Bake Melon Cheesecake Bars. Sounded weird, but I happened to have graham crackers leftover from a s’more campfire and a bar of cream cheese and two packets of gelatin, which I keep on hand for Swedish Creams. I was in business — and 20 minutes later — a square pan of cantaloupe-colored cheesecake was chilling in the fridge. 

I’m pleased to report: it was delicious. Ed says its "rich, but not too sweet -- a great summer dessert." I had it for dinner, and the next day for breakfast and lunch. 

Ed saved some seeds from our mystery melon and I’m planning to grow cantaloupes next season and add this dessert to our summer must-haves. 

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No-Bake Melon Cheesecake Bars

Adapted only slightly from The New York Times. Recipe by Eric Kim. Yield: 16 bars. Time: 20 minutes, plus 6 hours for chilling.

FOR THE CRUST:

• 7 ounces/269 grams graham crackers (about 14 whole crackers)
• ½ cup/115 grams unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)

FOR THE FILLING:

• 2 (1/4-ounce/7-gram) packets powdered gelatin (about 5 teaspoons)
• 1 ¼ pounds/566 grams peeled cantaloupe, diced (about 3 cups)
• 1 (8-ounce/226-gram) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup/100 grams granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
• ½ cup/120 milliliters heavy whipping cream
•  Honey, for drizzling (optional)

PREPARATION

1. Prepare the crust: Place the graham crackers in a resealable plastic bag. Close the bag and, using a rolling pin, heavy can or other blunt object, crush the graham crackers into a coarse rubble. To the bag, add the melted butter, sugar and salt, and mix thoroughly.

1. Transfer the crumbs to an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan and press into the bottom of the pan with your hands, forming a thick, sturdy base. Place in the freezer to set while you make the filling.

1. Make the filling: In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together 1/4 cup cold tap water and the gelatin. Let sit to bloom. Meanwhile, use a blender to purée the cantaloupe, cream cheese, sugar and salt until smooth.

1. Heat the cream in a small saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat until simmering at the edges or in a small bowl in the microwave until hot to the touch, 45 to 60 seconds on high. Add the bloomed gelatin to the hot cream and stir vigorously until smooth. Transfer the cream to the blender and blend with the cantaloupe until smooth.

1. Take the pan out of the freezer and pour the filling over the graham cracker crust. Cover and refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours or up to overnight. Cut into bars and serve, drizzled with honey, if you like.

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Scouting out the edges of town

Last week, we drove to Brooklyn to visit Mary, Brian and Saltie (our grand-grayhound). Both Mary and Brian are experts at showing us sides of NYC that most visitors don't get to experience. 

This time around, we scouted out the edges of town, from the southern-most tip of Brooklyn to the northern-most stop on the A Line in Upper Manhatten. We spent part of a day on a brand new island off the west side of mid-town NYC and had dinners in Red Hook and Bay Ridge -- both neighborhoods on the western edge of Brooklyn.  

Here's a closer look at our adventures on the edges. 

Red Hook

Mary and Brian live in Red Hook, a waterfront neighborhood set on a peninsula between Buttermilk Channel, Gowanus Bay and Gowanus Canal at the southern edge of Downtown Brooklyn. Their neighborhood is pretty isolated with no direct subway stops, but you can reach the area by ferry. It may be a bit remote, but that doesn't mean that little is going on -- quite the contrary. It has a really great food, arts and culture scene. Plus, you can usually find a unmetered parking space!

Our first stop after arriving at their loft apartment was to walk across the street to the legendary Defontes Sandwich Shop where we ordered three hero sandwiches, enough to share among the four of us, with leftovers. The woman behind the counter knew Mary, which seemed to happen often as we strolled their neighborhood. But, by many accounts, Red Hook's most popular citizen is their dog, Saltie. Everyone seems to know her and stops to say "Hi."

After lunch we took a stroll up Van Brunt Street, Red Hook's "Main Street," to get the scoop on Ample Hills Creamery, voted the best Ice Cream in America. That evening, we stopped in at the newly opened Strong Rope waterfront brewery. Not only were the beers fantastic, the view was too. From its warehouse taproom, we could see Lady Liberty herself. 

From there, it was on to Red Hook Tavern for a delightful alfresco dinner, featuring one of the best cheeseburgers ever. (Just don't ask Ed how much it cost!)

The last night of our visit, we returned to Red Hook for Thai food, eating in the back garden of Somtum Der (Red Hook). Still thinking about the Spicy Pad Thai with Crab... 

The Little Island

On my list of things I wanted to do was a visit to The Little Island, a new, free public park pier which opened this past May within the Hudson River Park. Little Island's distinct exterior is supported by concrete piles. On top of them, 132 concrete "tulips" make up the structure of the park. Each tulip's shape is unique and has a different weight load capacity to hold the soil, lawns, overlooks and trees. 

Planned in partnership with the Hudson River Park Trust, Little Island was funded primary through a philanthropic gift from Barry Diller and the Diller-Von Furstenberg Family Foundation. It's really cool. 

After a morning on Little Island, we walked over to Despaña Vinos Y Mas for an outstanding tapas lunch and mini buying spree of six bottles of Spanish wines (three for us and three for Mary and Brian). 

Coney Island

It was hot in New York; I'm talking in the high 90s with "feels like" temperatures of over 100 degrees. But the high temperatures didn't stop us for exploring the edges of the city. On Saturday morning, we met friends Doreen and Lewis for coffee in Park Slope and then headed south, all the way to the southern-most tip of Brooklyn -- to the old-school amusement park and boardwalk of Coney Island. 

Ed had always wanted to go there; me, I had never really thought much about it, but I'm glad we went. The boardwalk was clean and wide, separating the amusement park from the Atlantic beach. Mary and Brian rode the Cyclone, the second steepest wooden roller coaster in the world, while Ed and I watched and held on to Saltie's leash. 

And, of course, we had to try a world-famous Nathan's hot dog...

Bay Ridge

Saturday evening we drove to Bay Ridge, a residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of Brooklyn, meeting friends Alena and Matt and their 18-month-old daughter, Dom. We had met newborn Dom when we were last in Brooklyn; now, she is a walking, talking, beautiful toddler. We dined at Tanoreen, a Mediterranean-Middle Eastern restaurant. Afterwards. we strolled the pedestrian-only street with a music festival happening. 

The Cloisters

Rounding out our tour of the "edges," on Sunday morning we headed out of the city, on our way to a two-night stay in the Catskills. We make a final NYC stop at The Met Cloisters, a museum in Fort Tryon Park in far, far Upper Manhatten. It is a beautiful space, specializing in European medival art, including the beautiful unicorn tapestries.

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Before and After NYC

On the way to Brooklyn, we stopped for two nights in Lancaster, PA, the hub of Pennsylvania's Amish Country.

Also Wheatland, home to James Buchanan, our 15th president. 

After saying goodbye to Brian and Saltie, Mary came along with us for a two-night stay in the Catskills Mountains. We stayed at The Shandaken Inn, hiked Kaaterskills Falls, lunched at the Phoenician Diner, and dined at the Inn and Peekamoose restaurant and taproom. 

 

On Tuesday morning, we dropped Mary at the Rhinecliff Train Station, where she caught a train back to Brooklyn. 

Ed and I continued westward to spend the night at Letchworth State Park (voted best state park in the U.S.).

 From there, we made our way home to Farm Dover -- and to an over-abundance of garden tomatoes!

Our only souvenir (besides the three bottles of Spanish wine) was an authentic Amish hat for you-know-who.