Friday Favourites: Rhubarb, Spring Blossoms, and a bit of Music

 

Along the street where I walked yesterday (pushing Iris in her stroller), this tree stopped me in my tracks with its abundant blooms. Pinks from blush to fuschia filled every branch. I just had to stop and take a photo. Are they not marvelous? 

Our walk took us to the park where we played on the swings for a bit and then we walked to see the ducks. We had no food with us so the ducks soon lost interest in us. The play of light on water is mesmerizing. I'm so glad that I can spend one day each week able to care for this one grandchild so that her mother gets a bit of a break. 

I don't often speak of my husband on the blog. He works in long term health care administration and this pandemic has increased his work load (along with that of many others) exponentially. It seems that outbreaks occur, requiring his attention, on so many of holidays and days off. Christmas Day, Family Day (February), and Easter required phoning in to numerous Zoom meetings because of cases. Last Sunday to Monday I planned a little local getaway and it felt like a tiny escape. We stayed in a local hotel where every precaution was taken, swam, walked in the sunshine, and had a very relaxing time. I love the above photo because it says much about my husband. He's curious about many things, with a very analytical mind, and loves the ocean and nature. 

 

I read about this cookbook in the My French Country Home magazine and decided to order it. My preferred way to cook is Western European/Mediterranean, although I like Mexican and some Asian food, as well. I tried one recipe (below) and have marked a few more to try.

What style of cooking do you prefer?

Our rhubarb has exploded with the warm and sunny weather we've enjoyed for the past 10 days or so. I was intrigued by the addition of rhubarb to a chicken dish in the cookbook, so I tried it last night, with a few variations. I don't know how much the rhubarb actually adds to the dish other than a hint of tart. The broccoli is the last from our winter crop and the plants are now in the compost bin. 

In my garden I've begun using forget-me-nots as underplantings under the roses. I hope I don't regret it, but for now they are well controlled and ever so pretty with their clouds of blue. 

My father celebrates 87 years tomorrow and it makes me very sad that we have not seen my parents for ever so long - since last August. If things go well with vaccinations, and people behave, perhaps we can make the ferry trip at the end of May. Our vaccines are scheduled for next week. 

Our summer-in-April weather is ending this evening with rain moving in. We need the moisture. Plans for the weekend are loose, but there will likely be some house-keeping and gardening. 

Thank you for reading my blog. Sometimes I think I've run the course here, but then I think about the friendships made and the interesting blogs I read, and I keep on. Have a most wonderful weekend!

Five Things Friday

We're gaining about 25 minutes more precious light each week just now as our earth tilts ever so gently towards the sun. On my walks I see burgeoning shoots and blossoms springing upwards and outwards. The photo above was taken a week or more ago, and most of the snowdrop blooms have ended. Taking their place are crocuses and daffodils. Life is irrepressible.

Even the trees are eager to show off. These creamy blossoms are on a tree outside the school and I couldn't resist snapping them while walking from one building to the other. 

Spring restlessness is setting in. I'm a little tired of my winter clothes, but still need the warmth and layers, so I'm being creative and finding new ways to wear them. I don't need new things, and I'm becoming ever more conscious of the effects of fast fashion on individual lives and on the environment. I'm shopping my closet rather than the mall. If I get organized and brave enough, I'll do a post about that. 

There is restlessness in the kitchen, too, with a desire for fresh flavours. I've been roaming through my cookbooks in search of inspiration there, too. Laura Calder is a Canadian cook/author whose recipes I find very appealing and doable. She used to be on television, but now I see her on Instagram. 

We're joining friends for dinner this weekend, and I've been asked to bring dessert. Tim voted for Chocolate Mousse, so that's what it will be. 

Last night for dinner I made a sort of stew with ground beef, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It was rather blah. To accompany it I found this Skillet Cornbread recipe. It's a yummy one, with a mildly crunchy texture and a buttery flavour. The cornbread made up for the stew!

There is more than half of the cornbread remaining, so for tonight's dinner I'm planning to roast a large tray of vegetables - zucchini, onions, peppers, maybe eggplant or cabbage - then toss them all with feta cheese and olives. The bread will finish it off well. Simple and just the thing for a Friday night. 

Finally, I bought some tulips that are opening in exuberant free form style. They sit in the entrance hall and cheer my comings and goings.

The weekend is supposed to be sunny and I'm hoping to get out into the garden for a bit. There is clean up to do, and a few early seeds to plant. Dinner with friends on Saturday, and on Sunday I'm cooking dinner for 45 at church. I hope to do a little sewing and reading, as well. As always, we'll see what actually gets done! 

This and That in the First Week of April

Puffy cumulus clouds on the horizon and above the band of blue spoke of welcome rain coming. This photo was taken yesterday while walking around the Bog; as I look outside my window now, rain is dripping down. I can almost hear the dry ground slurping it up. The earthworms will be happy, too. 
  

A sharp wind blew, but once we were in the shelter of the trees in the Bog, it eased and the warmth of the sun penetrated instead of the chill. A flash of red caught my eye and we saw a very busy Downy Woodpecker drilling into a rather thin branch. 

A bit farther along bright robins clustered in a tree just beginning to leaf out. In the distance, winter skeletons of trees show clouds of green haze around them in that delicate, yet bright shade of early leaves. 

Lemons are plentiful in the grocery store just now, so a few came home with me to make Lemon Curd. I store it in the freezer in small jars. It's good on scones, toast, in tarts layered with fresh berries (soon they'll show up, too), or eaten by the spoonful. It's easy to make and here's the recipe I use. I adapted the method to ensure that it turns out reliably. 

Lemon Curd
1/2 cup butter (the recipe says to use unsalted, but I rebel)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (I used 2 regular lemons and 1 Meyer lemon)
3 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
pinch of salt (omitted because of using salted butter)
6 large egg yolks

Melt the butter in a double-boiler set over barely simmering water.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. This is when you would add the salt, as well.

Add the egg yolks and whisk until smooth.

Place the double-boiler over the heat again, and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens. Make sure to scrape the corners of the pot well as you whisk. I occasionally run a silicone spatula around the edges to ensure that all of the mixture gets whisked. The mixture is done when it coats a wooden spoon and you can draw a line through it with another spoon.

Pour the lemon curd through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Let cool to room temperature, whisking occasionally. Refrigerate, covered, until ready serve. OR pour into small jars (I used the half cup ones) and freeze.

Lemon Curd will keep for a month in the refrigerator and much longer (several months) in the freezer.

On Saturday morning Tim saw a flash of feathers swoop across the back garden before disappearing through the hedge. All the birds at the feeders scattered. The feathers flashed again and alighted on a fence so that we could identify it as a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. We don't often see them quite so low to the ground and wondered if there were some little critters in our garden that piqued his interest. He hung around for awhile before flying off again. It took awhile before the little birds felt brave enough to risk the feeder again. 

I picked a little bouquet from my garden - hyacinths, muscari, a couple of frilly daffodils, and candy tuft. The green filler is lemon balm, now showing up everywhere!

Today in Foods class the students made chocolate cupcakes. It's such an easy recipe and it always turns out. Today, one group of students added 1/4 CUP of salt in place of 1/4 teaspoon. Oh my. I took a little taste and quickly disposed of it. Wretched! The girls (it was a group of girls) took it well, laughing about their mistake, and other students shared their cupcakes with them, so they at least got to have a treat. 

Such a mistake reinforces to me how inept many young people are in the kitchen. I would have expected them to question that amount of salt in any dish, but especially baking. I am frequently surprised at how many students do not know the basics of cooking anything. By Grade 8 I was cooking entire meals, and there are still a few who do that, but it's not the majority any more. Life skills like these are so important, I think. 

On the other side, to be fair, another student came up to show me a photo (on her phone) of a chocolate mousse cake she had made for her grandfather's birthday. She had decorated it with fresh fruit and it did look lovely. A cake to be proud of. 

I'd better get this posted before the second week of April is gone! I hope Spring (or Autumn) is showing up for you wherever you live. I've seen photos of April snowfalls that would be a bit discouraging. 

Happy April days to you! 

Of Light and Shadow on a Friday Morning

Children and children-at-heart are impatiently watching the skies this dark morning. We are waiting for snow. A few lazy flakes drift to the ground as I write. Not enough for a snow-day from school! Ah well, perhaps we'll be able to play in the snow this weekend. I'm hoping so.

Last Saturday we went for lunch with some friends. Our view included a boat-builders' dock and the old boat above. It doesn't look like the best advertisement for the business, but certainly has plenty of character. The day was gloomy with clouds and that's certainly reflected in the photo. 
  

On another day this week, I drove out to Island View Beach for a walk. The late afternoon light was so clear with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. (That's cold for us.) Mount Baker, in Washington State, glowed white and blue.

The light transformed rose hips into almost translucent orbs of colour. Soon they will all fall and be replaced by fresh wild blossoms. 

Storms and waves toss up huge piles of driftwood along the shorelines. Beach visitors are almost compelled to create something from them - shelters, sculptures, artful arrangements. I don't know if the placement of arching branch was an affair of nature, or deliberate.

Oh, the light, beautiful as it fades.

On another day, light streamed in the window to dance on the frame photo of Hailes Abbey, taken almost 3 years ago now. 

A number of readers posed a question about what I teach in Grade 8 Foods. We run a program called RAFT - Robotics, Art, Food, Tech Ed (aka Woodworking) - for our 13-year-old students. This semester, February through June, is divided into 4 blocks with the students rotating through each of the four options. There are 3 groups of students, so I will have one block free. Our goal is to give students the opportunity to explore a variety of applied arts. It's just a taste - I think I have them for 25 class days. 

My goal is to help them see how they can learn skills that will enable them to eat well and to be mindful of what they eat. We begin with breakfast - Pancakes with Berry Sauce, followed by Banana Muffins. So they've learned how to mix two types of doughs, and thicken a sauce with cornstarch, cook on the stove top and use the oven. 

Next is lunch, and yesterday they prepared the pizza dough (yeast) and tomato sauce. Today they will roll out the crust, add the sauce, grate the cheese and bake it. Alongside, we're serving carrot sticks and cucumber slices, so those will be prepared while the pizza bakes. 

It's a busy, busy class - there are 24 students in 6 kitchens. Students come with a very wide range of experience. Some never cook at home; others prepare entire meals. We intersperse the cooking days with discussions and lessons about theory and nutrition. 

I demonstrated how to make the pizza dough on Wednesday and stressed a number of times to NOT squish the dough but to use a push and fold and pull method. Some students don't listen well. I was called to two kitchens where the "kneader's" hands were coated with sticky dough because they had picked it up and squished it through their fingers. What a mess! We scraped the dough off and I showed them, once again, how to knead. 

Of course, the best part of the course is eating the food they've prepared, and I don't think anyone has ever produced something utterly inedible. Cooking is very forgiving. 

Linking to Friday Bliss, hosted by Riitta of Floral Passions. 

Happy weekend!  

What I cooked and why

Last Thursday morning I went for a haircut and did some errands. It was exam week so the schedule was different and I teach in the afternoons. A text came in asking if I would be at school that day. Well, as it turned out, more funding came in for the learning assistance department, allowing the head teacher there to stay full time in that position and not have to teach English 10.

You might guess where this is going. Yes, instead of teaching just afternoons, I'm at school all day, beginning at 8:30 with a lovely class of 20 English 10 students. 

Hence all the cooking on the weekend. These photos are just a portion of it. I wanted to have at least this week organized. Above you see small jars of vegetable soup headed for the freezer. I'll take them in my lunch. And we enjoyed the soup on Sunday. 

I love roasted butternut squash. But coming home late and wrestling with a squash is not my idea of relaxation. Luckily, it can be peeled and cubed, then stored for several days in a container in the fridge.

I cooked up these Brussels sprouts to crisp tender, threw in a handful of dried cranberries and stirred in a spoonful of orange marmalade. Delicious and easy.

Every couple of months I make a batch of sausage. This is ground turkey, but pork or chicken or even beef works, too. Sometimes I form the sausage into patties and freeze them to cook as needed, or, like this time, I cook the meat and freeze it. It's easy to crumble some into eggs or soups.

I madly lesson planned on Friday and looked over stuff on the weekend, and I survived the first day! Ironically, my daughter taught the same two English courses I'm now teaching and I'm relying heavily on her binders of resources and plans. No need to invent the wheel! At least, not all at once!

What tips do you have for meal preparation when things look busy? Do you use your freezer?  

Brrrrrr!

We had snow this week, on a day so gray that this photo, taken at midday, looks almost monotone. The snow is mostly gone, not melted, but blown away by chilly winds. The chill continues - unusual for our area. I'm not going to tell you the temperature because many of you will just laugh at me for thinking it cold. The sun shone today, bright and warm through the window.

We chose our tree today. Gloves, warm coat and stomping through a little snow reminded me of my growing-up years further north. I rather enjoyed it. The tree stands now in the corner beside the fireplace, bare, but smelling wonderful.
  

 

We had a few friends in for dinner last night. I made Paella, with seafood, chicken and chorizo. It was yummy, and not much remains of that big dish. One dish meals like this, rounded out with bread and salad, make entertaining fun and easy. Do you have any go-to dishes that you prepare for guests?

I hope you're staying warm. This cold front seems like it's affecting a LOT of the continent.

Sharing What We Know

For the past few months I've been tutoring a young doctor from Central America in English pronunciation. He immigrated to Canada, hoping to practice medicine. It's a long haul and he needs to pass an oral English exam, hence the tutoring. The other day, before he left, I offered him a bag of green beans and another of tomatoes from the garden. 

"Oh," he said, "can you show me how they grow?"

"Of course." So off we went into the garden. I showed him the butternut squashes trying to take over the world, the tomatoes ripening, the tall green bean towers, the raspberry canes and more. He was fascinated by the herbs, especially the chives, and asked to take a few home. I clipped a big bunch for him, and threw in a couple of the flowers telling him they were edible, too.

He was amazed. "Can I bring my children to see this?" And he did, along with his wife.

I let the children pick tomatoes, find ripe raspberries and pulled a few carrots for them. They had never seen a vegetable garden. Can you imagine? What fun it was to see their excitement. "Mira, papi," they said in their sweet Spanish voices, "look." 

This morning, I picked tomatoes and herbs and turned them into salsa. Growing a garden and preserving food are skills I learned from my parents. What a rich heritage to understand the source of our food. And I wonder what else I take for granted that others in the world have not experienced.