Shade Garden 101

We have a lot of landscaping to do with the new house. Thank God, we have Tim's parents. Tim's parents both worked for a famous local Botanical Garden. Tim's dad is a published botanist specializing in ferns and his mother is also an amazing gardener. They bring up carloads of plants from their garden and it has been an enormous help. We temporarily transplanted them until we could move them later when the house was finished. We are now ready to move the plants. We are starting a shade garden behind the house. Two of the staples in the shade garden will be two species of ferns - the Japanese Painted fern and the Ghost fern. Both ferns have unique coloring and are really hardy. We will mix them in everywhere.

The Best Gift Ever!

I am terrible at receiving gifts. I don't like people making a fuss over me. I hate surprise birthday parties However, this was truly the best gift ever. I was so excited when I got my first tool belt - however - this little guy trumps the tool belt. Who comes up with these ideas? Genius! With a pair of knee pads and my new little gardening bucket - hours of endless fun! It's got pockets and holders for every kind of garden tool. It's even got a cooler pocket that holds a couple beer cans - just when cocktail hour arrives and you are still weeding. What else could you ever need? Thanks so much Jean, Jimmy, Keith and Marcello!

DIY Project #1 Summer 2010

Tim saw this on the Martha Stewart Website. We happened to be in the Lowes store trying to buy the terra cotta pots. While we were standing there stacking and inverting the pots, we were interrupted by another couple. The wife of this couple remarked - "Are you trying to make that Martha Stewart tiered herb garden?" Tim responded, "Why of course." The wife of the couple said - "We just made that - here let me help you." She started grabbing pots and putting it together for us. I just stood there with the wife's husband trying not to laugh or be embarrassed. Tim just looked up at me and smirked.

Martha Stewart 1, Jeff 0.

Eyes Rolling Back Into Your Head Incredible!

Unbelievably flavorful! Delicious!

SIRLOIN STRIP WITH GRILLED RED ONIONS, CORN BREAD AND SALSA VERDE

The layering of this dish is quite important. The base is a slab of corn bread cut to a size similar to the steak and positioned to catch all the juices, next the peppery beef and salsa verde and then grilled onions stacked on top.

Ingredients:

Serves 4

4 12 ounce sirloin strip steaks, trimmed.

2 garlic cloves, crushed.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.

2 medium red onions, cut into 1 inch thick slices.

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

1/4 cup black peppercorns, very coarsely crushed in a mortar or under a heavy skillet.

Corn bread ( Find standard mix or buy).

Salsa Verde ( see below).

DIRECTIONS:

1. Rub the steaks with the crushed garlic and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Put them on a platter, cover , and allow them to sit at room temperature for about 1 hour.

2. Prepare a hot grill or preheat a cast-iron or other heavy skillet over high heat.

3. Drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over the onions and season with salt and pepper. Grill or sear the onion until charred and just lightly softened, about 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to a plate. cover to keep warm , and set aside.

4. Season the steak with salt and press the crushed peppercorns into both sides of the steaks. Sear on the hot grill or in the skillet until a good crust has formed about 5 minutes. Turn the steaks, move them to a cooler part of the fire or reduce the heat to moderate, and cook to medium - rare, another 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack set over a platter to rest and cover to keep warm.

5. Meanwhile cut the corn bread into 4 rectangular strips about 3 inches wide and 7 to 8 inches long, then cut each piece horizontally through the middle in half. Grill the corn bread slices to warm.

6. Place 2 slices of corn bread on each plate and moisten with 1 tablespoon salsa verde. Top with the steaks, scatter some red onions over each. and garnish each serving with one more spoonful of the salsa verde. Serve the remaining salsa verde on the side of those who want more - or to dunk corn bread in.

SALSA VERDE

INGREDIENTS:

1. 2 garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped

3 tablespoons capers, rinsed

2 tablespoons chopped cornichons

1 shallot, finely minced

1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1/2 cup chopped basil

1/4 cup chopped chives

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Directions:

1. Combine the garlic, capers, cornichons, shallots, and herbs in a food processor and pulse to roughly chop. ( Alternatively, you can leave the herbs unprocessed - add them whole or roughly torn to the finished sauce)

2. Add the vinegar, olive oil, lemon zest and salt and pepper. Pulse a few times to combine.

3. Taste and adjust the seasoning. transfer to a bowl.

Memorial Day Weekend - Have Tadpoles - Will Travel

Gorgeous weekend. Perfect weather for lots of yard work. We were a little nervous because of the tadpole situation. Those little guys had me worried all week. I half - expected not to see any water plants and that there would be fish carcasses scattered like chicken bones all around the perimeter of the pond. We got Upstate early and I made a bee-line for the pond and garden. Hmmm, the water lettuce and water hyacinths were still intact, however, no fish bones but also no fish. Maybe in the heat of the afternoon they would show up but I had to be sure.

As we walked through the grocery store on Saturday, I kept looking for something to entice the fish to the surface. I love suburban grocery stores - they actually had fish food in the pet supplies aisle. How smart is that? I bought this really cute container with the raised orange starfish for a lid. I'm a sucker for good design. Tim and I walked down to the pond armed with our fish flakes. I opened the container and grabbed a handful. Tossing fish flakes upwind is not very smart. I was covered with the yellow and orange flakes and the smell. I moved around to the other side of the pond and took a handful and made a second attempt. I don't know what I expected. Killer whales to jump out and somersault catching the flakes in their mouth? No fish. I got down on my knees on the rocks that are strategically placed like step stones across the pond. I made a third attempt to scatter more flakes and I almost pulled back a nub - those tad poles are mouths and teeth attached to a tail! They attacked the food like Australian scuba divers left to die in the open water. I stepped back and decided the fish flakes weren't such a good idea.

Frustrated, we kept watch all weekend glancing over at the pond hoping to see a glimpse of orange something floating around. Eventually as the day warmed, three little fish poked their heads out. I guess 3 out of 14 isn't so bad? Maybe the rest are just shy and are at the bottom of the pond? Positive thinking.

We counted 8 real frogs now swimming amoung the tadpoles. We can't figure out which ones were last summer's Atlanta House Wives. The only one we recognize is Nee nee - because she is so big. Maybe she's a bullfrog? We will have to come up with another TV show to name the frogs. Maybe we do Dancing with the Stars or John and Kate plus 8 - but who can remember the kids names?

Saturday and Sunday were spent raking stone, planting shrubs and vegetables, raking stone, moving the storage shed, raking stone, emptying the water storage barrels and raking stone. I had blisters on top of blisters under the gloves. Mice had gotten into the old storage shed so we had to completely pull apart the shed, clean it and re-assemble it. Dirty, dirty, gross. We don't like mice.

While we were in Delhi to grocery shop, we caught a couple yard sales - nothing is more perfect than yard sales on Memorial Day weekend. We picked up a motorized chicken rotisserie for the grill (never used) $5. We picked up a chicken roaster for the grill (also never used) for $2. I love me a bargain.

Tim made this fantastic meal Saturday night. He grilled London Broil smothered in garlic and peppercorns, and served it on cornbread with a salsa verde. Eyes rolling to the back of your head incredible! For dessert - rhubarb and strawberry pie. After dinner, we sat out on the porch in our Adirondack chairs and listened to the frogs croak, watched the stars come out, and both of us fell asleep, exhausted, out on the porch. I woke up and dragged both of our butts inside to sleep

Memorial Day. We met Tim's parents and family in New Paltz to shop a craft fair. Tim's parents needed frogs for their pond so we loaded a gallon water jug with tadpoles. I made Tim catch them because I wasn't going near them. When we arrived at the fairgrounds, it was so hot, we put the tadpoles under the truck behind the tire. At several points during the day, Tim kept asking me - "Do you think we should go back and check them?" I just looked at him and said - "Why? Just go buy some jerk seasoning in the food pavilion and we will batter them and pop them in our mouths like popcorn shrimp."

The fair was fun, I ran ahead with Tim's nephews shopping marbles, toy crafts and kids stuff while his family lagged behind shopping the jewelry stalls and furniture and ceramics. We had craft fair food and cold ice tea and soft ice cream and had a great day.

Later when we got home, Tim's parents called to tell us that they had successfully transferred our tadpoles to their pond. Tim's parents are incredible gardeners in their own right. They both used to work for New York Botanical Garden. Tim's Dad is a botanist and has written several books on fern species in America and Mexico. I told his Mom to take extra special care of our babies... and no fish flakes.