A Sad Day

I had a hint this was coming two weeks ago when I overheard one vendor telling another about some incident involving a dog and saying that dogs were to be banned from the market. I had assumed at the time that they were discussing a market other than Dupont Circle. Wishful thinking.

Last week the signs went up. There were a couple of dogs still to be seen here and there - whether it was in protest or blissful ignorance, I don't know. There was also some evidence of displeasure with the new dictum - the "No" had been smudged out on the blackboards.

This week everyone seemed to have capitulated. The signs were undisturbed and there was nary a dog in the market. I've never considered myself to be a "dog person", but I've always enjoyed seeing the variety of dogs on parade at the market and observing their interactions with people and other dogs. It just won't be the same without them.

(On a happier note, the Elephant Heart Plums are here!)

First Local Strawberries

Bigger is not always better. I suppose those gigantic Driscoll strawberries are beautiful in their way, and might even be welcomed off-season if one were in urgent need of strawberries, but these little jewels can't be beat when it comes to flavor.

They were on offer at the first stand I came to today at the market and the aroma hit me even before the sight of them glistening in the sunlight did. As is my practice, I made quick rounds of the place to see who had what and what looked good before making any decisions, but no other berries looked or, more importantly, smelled nearly as tempting as these.

Long weekend. Gorgeous weather. Amazing strawberries. I am one happy camper!

Meeting Zarah

Where shall I begin? For me, this was possibly the most anticipated meeting ever... Zarah had first mentioned that she and Martin planned a road trip across the USA last July. I held my breath and kept my fingers crossed that it would actually happen. Finally in February Zarah told me that the trip was on and that they would be arriving in the states on March 21st. Yahoo! Martin and Zarah arrived in the US with laptops in tow, so we exchanged emails occasionally as they worked their way up the east coast and I pestered her with Gmail chat whenever I saw that little green light... "Hi Zarah, are you there??"

The big day was April 21st. I didn't know when they would arrive. My anticipation mounted when I received a phone call from them mid-day - they were stuck in traffic, but expected to arrive in another hour or so. As the appointed time neared, I kept vigil by the window and when I saw an SUV slow near my house I ran out with arms waving. Zarah jumped out of the car and we hugged. Even now I cannot believe we finally were able to meet face to face, to eat together, cook together, and just spend time together.



The days flew by and we weren't able to fit in all I'd hoped we could. We did fit in a day trip to Winterthur and between the glorious weather and the gorgeous spring landscape, it was an absolutely perfect day. There was also a day for sightseeing in DC, and of course some time for hitting several cooking stores.



The most interesting of these was probably the Little Bitts Shop in Wheaton (sorry, no website!). They have everything you might need (and plenty of items I'm sure you never dreamed you needed!) for cake making and decorating. We both made a number of small purchases, but what I was most excited about were the beautiful papers for muffins or cupcakes. We also made stops at Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table.



Sunday I was treated to dinner prepared by Zarah and Martin - a spontaneous risotto made with asparagus and bacon purchased at the farmer's market that morning and sugar snap peas that I had purchased earlier. I was so impressed! When I make risotto, I follow a recipe slavishly. Z & M's risotto was out of this world and they never even cracked a book! Wednesday Phil and S. came over for a real, live "Dining with the Bloggers (and Phil)". Unfortunately, I overcooked the roast, but the gnocchi Zarah and I made were delicious.

Friday we all took the train to New York City for a weekend with Bob and Chuck, a fantastic dinner at Blue Hill, and a Sunday food-blogger meet-up with Julie, Luisa and Jen. It was so great to be able to meet the talented women behind the blogs. Our meeting was sadly cut short when Zarah realized her purse had been stolen (be sure to read Jen's eloquent letter to the jerk responsible). After a trip to Luisa's office so Zarah could call her bank, Zarah and I paid a visit to New York's finest so she could file a police report. We had been warned by the others not to expect a warm reception, but the lady who took the report was actually very nice. She was funny too... when she saw Zarah's bag on the floor she advised her not to leave it there saying, "this isn't Law and Order - everything's not sparkly clean", and handed Zarah some toilet paper to wipe off the bottom of her bag!

We parted Monday afternoon when Zarah and Martin headed over to Julie's for a few days. But that wasn't good-bye quite yet. We had a brief reunion in Maryland later in the week before they packed up the car and headed west. Saying good-bye was hard, but I hope someday I'll be able to visit with them again. I continue to marvel at the wonderful people food blogging has brought into my life. This opportunity to meet and get to know Zarah and Martin will be something I'll look back on fondly forever.

Spring, Springing.... Sprung!

A week or so ago, when spring had officially begun, it didn't feel much like spring around here and it was hard to imagine that it was just around the corner. But this weekend the sunny warm weather, blooming trees, and twittering birds leave no room for doubt - spring is here. Makes me wish there was a spring break for grown-ups!

I am normally immune to that spring cleaning bug, but with Zarah's arrival imminent, this year I have succumbed. I took a break to run out for a couple of ingredients for this week's cookies and was struck by how much was in bloom. When I got back I went for a walk so I could soak up the sights, the sounds and the scents of spring...











These cat-nine-tails aren't exactly harbingers of spring, but they were so strange and beautiful, like ghostly cotton candy. I was snapping away when I heard some commotion...



I had startled some deer. This picture isn't very good - but you can see the white tail. When they were running away from me I was amazed at how long their tails were. After a bit, they decided I wasn't as scary as they first thought and returned to resume their grazing... at a safe distance.

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Smithsonian "castle"

There are some advantages to living near DC, including one that had completely escaped my notice up until last week. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival has been going strong for 39 years (almost as long as I've lived here), but it wasn't until this year that I paid it a visit. Actually, two visits.


Alice Waters' edible school garden

This year one of the themes was "Food Culture USA". I think food has always figured into the festival programs, but it has been a footnote rather than the focus. For instance, this year Oman and the Forest Service were two of the other programs and each included a series of presentations related to food. In the "Kitchen Oasis" tent you could sit in on "Coffee, Dates and Hospitality" or "All About Halwa". In the "Camp Foodways" tent, presentations included "Cooking in the Field" and "Catfish". But I only gave these parts of the festival a passing glance, for "Food Culture USA" had more than enough to monopolize my attention.

OK, I'm going to drop some names now... Paul Prudhomme, Lidia Bastianich, Sheila Lukins, Joan Nathan, Lisa Yockelson, Emeril Lagasse, Todd English, Alice Waters, Suvir Saran, and more, so much more! I wish I could have seen them all, but I felt fortunate to see as much as I did. I saw Paul Prudhomme, Susan Belsinger, Suvir Saran, and Lisa Yockelson.


Susan Belsinger


Lisa Yockelson


Paul Prudhomme


Suvir Saran

Each gave a 45 minute cooking demonstration/talk and answered questions. The format they used sometimes worked well and other times seemed forced - a Smithsonian staff member or volunteer sort of acted as an emcee, introducing the cook, bantering with them, and calling on people with questions - but the presentations were informative and the speakers/cooks were interesting, funny, and down-to-earth. I also attended two presentations by "home cooks" (neither was a professional chef or food writer) which weren't as entertaining or informative, but which were still enjoyable. Joan Nathan was the co-curator for the program and judging from what I saw, she did a great job. I just wish they could do this every year!


camels on the Mall

It's not that I'm hoarding or anything...

That's about 15 pounds of blueberries. I've also given away a little over 3 pounds and have probably eaten that much myself. Oh, and I made blueberry jam today.

I've got a bumper crop... and that's with no bird net... yay!!

A Peek Behind Closed Doors

Pim put it so well, “Living and blogging are not quite in harmony at the moment.” But to make matters worse, events in the kitchen have conspired against me as well.

I didn’t spend much time in the kitchen last week, and so had nothing to blog about. I had hoped to remedy that this past weekend. I spent time on several cooking projects, thinking I would get material for at least two or three posts. Unfortunately, I had little success and no pretty pictures (thank goodness I wrote my IMBB post last week!). I may still write of the failures and less-than-noteworthy efforts of last weekend, but tonight I’ve decided to do a mini exposé of my kitchen.

I hope you will not be too distressed by the disarray you are about to see. I did not straighten any shelves before taking these pictures. I also took a few close-up pictures so you could read some labels (as I would want to do). I’ll be back cooking soon.


my "pantry" - actually a pie cupboard


pantry - left middle shelf


pantry - top left shelf


cupboard to the right of the sink


cupboard - top left shelf


cupboard - bottom right shelf

My Little Garden

Actually, until a couple of hours ago it was my little weed patch. In years past I have had a vegetable garden, but I have given up feeding the deer. I now grow just herbs (which for some reason they’re not interested in). I haven’t kept up with the weeds, because I can’t bear being out in the sticky hot weather getting eaten by bugs. But today is different.

Normally the weather in August is hot and humid, but today is almost fall-like. There is a wonderful breeze; the sky is blue with puffy white clouds; and the air is cool and dry. It’s the kind of day that when you go outside for lunch, you wish you didn’t have to go back to the office. Lucky me, I’m not at the office!



So I spent an hour or two pulling up weeds, mowing the lawn, and reveling in the gorgeous weather. As I was pulling weeds, I noticed I have quite a menagerie out there. I saw a big old slug, a fuzzy white caterpillar, ants, stink bugs, Japanese beetles, crickets, and various other non-descript beetles, bugs and flying things. They left me alone, so I left them alone (well, except for that slug which I relocated with little regard for his comfort or safety).



Now I can see the herbs again. The basil, sage, and rosemary seem to have come through the ordeal unscathed. The thyme, chives, and especially the tarragon were overshadowed by the weeds and haven’t grown much. Hopefully, with a little sun and belated TLC they will be thriving soon.

What a day!

A Sad Story

My blueberry season has come to an abrupt end.

This was to have been about blueberry muffins, but last night while gathering ingredients for the muffins I glanced out the back window and noticed there was a bird flying around inside the net surrounding my blueberry bush. I had just put the net on last weekend with the intention of getting one more good picking and then leaving it off. Even with the net on, the birds had continued to congregate there – it made me think of one of those suet blocks in a wire cage. The birds would perch on the net and fish out a blueberry from inside.

Anyway, I headed down to the basement and outdoors to try to free the bird. When I got closer I realized there were two birds flying around inside. I started pulling up the stakes and trying to untangle the net from the bush. Then I saw it – there was a dead bird on top of my blueberry bush, under the net, with his head caught in the net. I think he strangled trying to get out. Until that point I had been thinking I would remove the net, pick as much as I could before dark, and then leave the net off. Suddenly these blueberries lost their appeal.

So then the rescue and recovery mission began. The two birds flew out without much ado. In fact, I didn’t even notice when they finally escaped. It was a little more difficult to remove the dead bird. I was squeamish and he was really trapped in the net. I ended up having to cut a piece out of the net to free him. Now the entire net and the bird are sitting in front of my house waiting for the trash pickup.

I did make blueberry muffins last night (with berries picked last week). I ate one and gave the rest away.

I am leaving the remaining blueberries for the birds.

my little kitchen

just big enough