extremely GOOD NEWS 10/31/2009
 My amazing, 89 year-old father has endured this past week, a successful 9-hour surgery for pancreatic cancer. He is exceeding everyone's expectations. His extremely gifted surgeon Neal Wilkinson at the University of Iowa Hospital, said my father is doing as well or better than his youngest patients have done during recovery after this surgery, and we are all expecting him to continue to improve as each day goes by. My hope is that my father is able to play golf every day next summer! He deserves it after the year he's had. And if you're wondering, he was also an amazing baseball player in his younger days. "Buckshot" pitched to Babe Ruth - how cool is that? La Tour de France -- and a strata 07/26/2009
 I had been looking forward to July 25th for days. It was the day the bikers riding in La Tour de France would be ascending Mont Ventoux.  We watch the Tour de France almost religiously each summer. I think I like cycling, but honestly, the reason I'm glued to the television screen during La Tour is because of the scenery. I'm a sucker for the cobblestones and tiled roofs of France. When the cyclists are on secluded stretches of road, I'll find little jobs to do around the house. But as soon as my husband yells, "Hey, look at this!", I run back to the t.v. and images of another village I now want to visit.  Seeing the 20th leg of La Tour was especially important to me because we always stay near Mont Ventoux in the Vaucluse region when visiting Provence. Last summer we based ourselves in Carpentras and wherever we ventured during the day, Mont Ventoux was most likely in our sight.  My husband, who has become more interested in cycling over the years and participates in Ragbrai (the bike race across Iowa) with our youngest daughter, has never joined me on my visits to Provence. But he seemed intrigued, seeing the shots of lavender fields and vineyards during La Tour yesterday. I'm hoping he'll consider a trip with me. He could ride his bike from village to village and I could meet up with him for lunch, taking a break from the markets and brocantes -- my favorite pasttimes in Provence.  Since we would be getting up at 6 a.m. (on a Saturday!) to watch the ascent of Mont Ventoux, I decided to assemble a strata the night before, to have as breakfast Saturday morning. The great thing about a strata is that you can work with what you've got. I had 2 cooked hot Italian sausages in my freezer along with a baguette. I sliced the baguette and covered the bottom of a buttered gratin with half. Over that I layered the sliced sausages and mushrooms from a jar in my pantry. I sprinkled about a cup of shredded Gruyére over the top, along with leaves of fresh basil from my garden. I covered this with another layer of baguette slices and more shredded cheese. I whisked together 4 large eggs and about a cup of half & half, seasoned with salt and pepper, and poured this evenly over the bread. (Feel free to add more cream or milk if the strata seems too dry). Covered with plastic wrap, the strata was placed in the refrigerator until the next morning when I popped it into a preheated 350˚F oven for 30 minutes. I wish the red peppers in my refrigerator had been roasted when I assembled this late Friday night. They would have been a great addition. A New Perspective 07/23/2009
 We are getting some new windows this week. The original windows to our 1928 home no longer function efficiently (did they ever?). Draperies rustle in the gentle breeze -- when the windows are closed! Our windows never would have been classified as "energy saving" windows. So, this week I took down the linen roman shades I made and anything hanging on the walls near the windows that came out. I have cleaned my rooms, over and over; only to have to clean the rooms again today when the workmen leave for the last time. But, before they are gone, they will also put new glides on my very old kitchen drawers. That is almost worth more to me than the new windows.  With one of the windows removed from our bedroom, I had a beautiful view of the garden below. I took photos from an angle I had never photographed from before. The blue cabbage are truly stunning. Right now I'm feeling like that may be the only thing we will be eating from my garden. The days have been strangely cool, and altho' I have hundreds, yes hundreds, of tomatoes dangling from my 25 heirloom tomato plants, they are hanging there green and don't seem to be in any hurry to ripen. And, in addition to that, I have been trimming leaves with blight daily. If I'm not eating fresh garden tomatoes soon, it won't be pretty. You won't want to read what I will be writing.    So, with workmen in my kitchen again today, my range will be inaccessible. I do have plans for baking this weekend... if I'm not busy painting windows.   I'll be the first to admit that I went a little overboard with purple cabbage this year. I have 29 purple cabbage planted in my vegetable garden. That 29 does not include cabbages that are planted in pots.  I do eat cabbage, but the real reason I plant them is for the leaf and the amazing purpley-blue color. I'd have to say that next to the eggplant's leaf, cabbage is my favorite.  As you can see, if it were not for the cabbage, my garden would just be an uninspiring green.  I welcome cabbage recipes. If you have a favorite, please let me know! I think I'm going to need any and all I can get my hands on... UP NORTH | for the 4th 07/03/2009
  My patio is closed. I've gone "up north". If you, however, are still dining al fresco on your patio, you may want to try this rosé. Cuvée Catherine Rosé d' Anjou is my newest favorite. A VISIT HOME | Amana, Iowa 06/27/2009
 I was recently "back home" visiting my father in Amana, Iowa. Originally a communal society from the mid-1800's to 1932, things have changed there, drastically. It's not the same as when I was growing up... but nothing stays the same, does it? I went out with my camera one morning to shoot photos of places that still seemed like the Amana I remember.   Many of the original homes were either made from sandstone or handmade bricks.   Grapes were grown by many to produce wine. Rhubarb and dandelion wines were also made in the Amanas. I remember picking dandelions when I was young, earning 50 cents for each bushel basketful I picked for the wineries (I had a strong entrepreneurial sense at an early age. I showed great promise, but it somehow disappeared as I grew older).  This is a side entrance to the old West Amana store. Each of the seven villages had its own general store and church. The seven villages are Amana, East Amana, Middle Amana, High Amana, West Amana, South Amana and Homestead.  Isn't that a great foundation on the weathered wood building in the background?    There is still beauty to be found. PARIS -- June 2006 06/22/2009
 We happened to be in the Marais on Gay Pride Day June 2006. We usually stay on the Left Bank when visiting Paris, but had just returned for one night after a week in Provence and decided to stay near the Gare de Lyon. That way, we would be able to walk to our hotel from the train station, eliminating a costly taxi ride. I expected a quiet night, having dinner near our hotel and turning in early since we were catching our flight back home the next morning. What was I thinking?? We were in Paris, and when you are in Paris, and when it's your last night in Paris, YOU DO NOT TURN IN EARLY! We arrived at our hotel, threw down our luggage, and we were out of there. A Walk Around My Garden 06/16/2009
             It's Somebody's Birthday 06/01/2009
 Happy 9th birthday, beautiful. Enjoy the day! My Garden, 2009 05/19/2009
 Today I will finally show you pictures of my garden and you will see how I can easily spend 9 hours a day outdoors.  Every spring I rough-up the iron urn that is our fountain, with a wire brush and repaint the inside. By the end of the summer the interior will be very rusty again. We spent an afternoon in a hardware store assembling different bronze pipes, joints, and spouts to finally come up with our fountain's spigot.  Our French park chairs, that are the seating for our outdoor dining table, are eleven years old and were showing their age. I sanded the varnished wooden slats and repainted them with a gray weather-proof low-lustre enamel. Hopefully this will extend their life.  If there's a theme throughout my garden this year, it's red cabbage. I'm planting it everywhere.  Our tomato plants that we started from seed in March, have finally been planted in the garden. All of the plants are heirloom except for the Yellow Pear tomatoes. The heirlooms are Cherokee Purple (my absolute favorite), Aunt Ruby's German Green, Green Zebra, and Red Siberian. There is nothing more beautiful than combining all of these tomatoes, sliced, on a huge, white platter and drizzling with balsamic and extra-virgin olive oil.  More red cabbage in the front bed, along with Italian parsley. The center holds tarragon, sage and English thyme.  I have two concrete urns that hold my rosemary plants. They're surrounded by white and violet alyssum.  In this photo you get a glimpse on the left, of our twig fencing we use to protect our bush beans and beets from the rabbits that frequent our garden.  Late summer we'll be picking grapes from these vines.  My plan is to eventually sit in these chairs with a glass of wine and a stack of magazines. Before that, however, I need to finish planting the garden. It is finally warm enough to get my two packages of basil seeds into the ground. I use a lot of fresh basil in the summer, and along the way I combine the basil leaves with just enough extra-virgin olive oil to bind, in my food processor. I put this mixture into ice cube trays, freeze, and then store in a bag in my freezer. I highly recommend this as the best way to preserve basil for use in the winter. It will be like adding fresh, summer basil to your sauces, soups, etc. I'll show you more photos throughout the summer as my garden matures.  |  Passions
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