Phew! Huff! Puff!

Today was a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. We may have hit the 80s. I went hiking with my friends, Lisa and Elizabeth. We went to Tiger Mountain in Issaquah and hiked the West Tiger Trail, 3.3 miles straight up and another 3.3 straight down. Phew! Huff! Puff! The view at the top was awesome! Beautiful mountain vistas. I made it through the whole hike with only one mosquito bite! (I got another two while watering the garden later this evening. Go figure)

After the hike, we hit the Issaquah Farmer's Market at the Pickering Barn where I found the Proper British Butcher and was able to purchase proper smoked British bacon (at last!) from their local farm. We also found cherries, nectarines, cukes, and peas. Then our tummies were doing the rumblies, so it was time for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Yum!

David and Alex went the Bike races at the velodrome in Redmond tonight. It's an annual event that David loves. Ari has been busy this weekend working on college papers. Anni and I are having a Winnie the Pooh-athon this evening. In the words of Tigger, "Ta ta for now."

Musings

Today's garden harvest (from upper left corner, clockwise): Thyme, sage, chives, chocolate mint, purple sage, lemon thyme, nasturtium, squash blossom, peppermint, salad greens, rosemary, cream carrots, greens, oregano, (middle, from left) berries, peas, spearmint. The herbs are doing very well in the garden this year. The warm weather plants (tomatoes, peppers) are struggling in our cooler, wetter than usual summer.

And speaking of struggling, the Seattle Sounders Soccer team more than struggled against Manchester United last night at the Seattle stadium in front of 60,000 people. They were annihilated 7 to 0! But we still love our Sounders. Go green and blue!

Anni had a rare day when she had no appointments. Alex, Ari, and David were busy with school and college; so Anni and I had a girls day in. We got up late, had a leisurely breakfast, gave each other oatmeal facials, picked and ate raspberries, read Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and made cranberry cupcakes. It was great fun!

Season of the Berry

 Berry season has come to the Suburban Backyard Farm. Here are a few we have ripening; Boysenberry, strawberry, and black currants. The blueberries and raspberries are also about to explode with juicy berries. Can you say breakfast smoothies? Yum!

Just a pic to show how big the Boysenberries are. That's a US quarter at the center of the star!

In other news, Ari had her 21st birthday! She celebrated with a venti raspberry soy mocha, books, and chocolate! She says she feels no taller than at age 20.

We all went to see the last installment of the Harry Potter films this weekend. Well worth the price of admission. We're going to miss Hogwarts and the gang! Write more Ms. Rowling!

Harvest time

The onion harvest. We also had the potato harvest. This year we grew red, white, and blue potatoes! We put the harvests together and had cottage potatoes for lunch. Delish!

 Here's my map drawing of this year's garden.

Zucchini cheese mini breads, fresh from the oven. These are a huge family favorite. Thank goodness, because it looks like we're set to have a bumper crop of zukes this year.

Dragonfly, Oh my!

 Dragonfly on a garden post. This one stayed around for almost an hour, basking in the sun.

 The lupine continue to bloom.

 The zucchini (courgette) are blooming like crazy!

 A garden view. Click to enlarge. How many different things can you find growing?

The daily haul from the garden: lemon balm, mint, lettuce, tomatoe, onion, chives, and strawberries. We're also getting a few black currants each day.

Fun in the sun and shade

We've enjoyed a near 80 degree day yesterday! It's the first one we've had! I spent the whole day outside and am now a delicious shade of pinkish red, despite the sunscreen. We went to the farmer's market in the morning for zucchini, lettuce (Have you ever tried French speckled leaf lettuce? It's delish!), radishes, cilantro, local line caught tuna, apples, local free-pastured pork sausage, and free-pastured, grass feed beef. After seeing Food Inc (the film), we're committed to buying meat and poultry that supports local farmers raising livestock humanely and healthily. We're finding it's a lot more expensive, so we eat even less meat than before (which wasn't much) and lots more veggies. We feel great! We gardened the afternoon away, watering, weeding, and uppotting tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Today was much cooler that yesterday. We decorated for the Fourth, returned lots of library books, and then headed to our local fruit market for melons, nectarines, plums, citrus, avocados, and blueberries. I think we may be keeping up with Auntie D. in the fruit department! We harvested another 2 dozen strawberries today. That brings this year's harvest to 11 dozen so far. We're beginning to harvest a tomato daily from the green house and lots of chives, cilantro, lettuce, greens, onions, and peas from the garden beds.

This evening future farmer Alex and I cooked. I made my Roasted Veggie Primavera Pasta (recipe follows), and he made a Bonnie Butter Yellow Cake (from my 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook!). Tomorrow, Ari is helping to make strawberry crepes for breakfast. Yes folks, you heard correct; Ari is going to cook! Wonders never cease.

Roasted Veggie Primavera Pasta
This recipe is extremely delicious. The garlic is key! Don't skip it.

1 medium zucchini (courgette), halved and thinly sliced. (If organic, don't bother to peel)
1 medium yellow summer squash (or yellow zuc), halved and thinly sliced (see above)
1/2 large red pepper, halved again and thinly sliced.
1/2 large yellow pepper, halved again and thinly sliced.
1 medium sweet yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced.
1 large cloves elephant garlic (best) or 3 cloves of mild other garlic, left whole and in paper skin
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 Tbsp mixed italian herbs (if mixing your own: oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, and a pinch of sage)

1lb bowtie pasta (I like the organic tricolored ones)

1/4 lb button or small crimini mushrooms, sliced

15 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh garden peas

1/2 fresh grated parmesean cheese

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cover a large pan with foil. In a large bowl, combine zucchini, squash, peppers, onion, and garlic with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Italian herbs. Spread on pan as thinly as possible, ideally as a single layer. Cook 10 minutes.

2) Boil big pot of water for pasta.

3) Add sliced mushrooms to oven pan, stirring to mix well. Cook another 10-12 minutes, until veggies are soft and beginning to brown. While these are roasting, cook pasta according to package instructions.

4) Retain 1 cup of hot pasta water, then drain rest. Place pasta in large bowl. Pour hot retained pasta water over peas and tomatoes. Let rest 1 minute. Meanwhile, remove garlic from other roasted veggies. Mash and add to pasta, tossing well. Add rest of roasted veggies to pasta and toss well. Drain and add peas and tomatoes, toss well. Add most of parmesean cheese, and toss again. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Serve immediately! Serves 6 generously. Enjoy!

5) Other veggies to roast are eggplant, potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, asparagus (unbelievably delish!), yams, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts