Friday, July 11, 2014

A Post From a Ghost of Bloggers Past



The best thing about okra...

You may have noticed the dearth of blogging in this little corner. It was not intentional. When I'm out in the garden, pursuing my personal vendetta against stink vine for instance, drunk on sunshine and great ideas, I'll promise myself that as soon as I go inside and wash the grime off, I'll sit down and wow you with my brilliance. Maybe exhaustion has a withering effect on great ideas because there's been nothing for weeks months now.

April...Getting started

With the OC retired and back in residence, all the little things that I let slide in his absence are being taken care of. Stuff grows in Florida. And how! Especially weeds. Stink vine is a pretty little creeping weed that crawls across the ground, knitting itself in every couple of feet, until it covers a huge area with it's ingratiating web. When you pull it up it lets off an odor that would choke a horse. Sneaky, because the leaves are very pretty,but in no time flat it can take over and choke out the good stuff unless you let it know who's boss. We usually dump garden debris at the back, on or near the compost pile. But stink vine goes straight into a bag for the garden waste collection. Let it take over the world at the landfill, not here!



And in the usual way of one thing leading to another, gardening has led to more experiments in the kitchen. For one thing, there's a man in the house who needs regular feeding so meals once again are a daily occurrence. They were spotty, at best, when it was just me. Now, with an appreciative eater in the house (who also does dishes) meals are fun again.  In addition to fools, there's another thing the OC does not suffer gladly: dull tools. Ergo, my kitchen, since his return, is full of lethal weapons. I've been thinking I should buy stock in the company that manufactures bandaids. The occasional sprinkle of blood here, small piece of finger there notwithstanding, we've been having some delicious fare. Slicing the cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant that the garden has produced is also a lot easier with a sharp knife.with regular healthy eating the OC has lost some weight. Unfortunately, it didn't go far. It settled on me.



The biggest hit from the garden has been kale. My favorite salad of the summer is made with kale, garlic, pecorino Romano, raisins and walnuts. When beets were in season I found a beet and carrot salad recipe that was out of this world. I'll put them on Molly and Lily in the Kitchen, where, even though there's been scant evidence of me in recent times, there's been even less of Lily.

At the other end of the scale we had okra, which is not even on my cooking radar, but beggars can't be choosers and The Bean, who did all the donkey work in getting the garden started for us, thought we should have okra. It grew beautifully but when I added it to a salad (it oozes a mucous-y sticky substance that does nothing to whet your appetite,) the OC bluntly told me that if he wanted snot in his food he had his own supply, thank you very much. In the interests of waste not, want not, I had to choke down the rest of that salad myself! Okra does have one redeeming quality --- the most beautiful flower!

And here's another beautiful flower who, sadly, isn't growing in our garden.......but we're grateful for regular updates!




Now that I've broken the long silence, maybe I'll get back to more regular blogging. Meanwhile, "Happy (recent) Birthday" to Isabelle and greetings to the other die-hards who have doggedly hung in there during the drought!

21 comments:

Relatively Retiring said...

That salad sounds wonderful, and the Little Flower looks it!

Elephant's Child said...

Love the little flower - and the salad sounds nearly as good.

gz said...

Kale? Try Cavolo Nero...delicious!!

Lee said...

What a beautiful little princess...she's like a little doll.

Welcome back, Molly...you have been missed.

Your salad looks delicious. The climate in Florida seems similar to our own here.

Good to hear from you, Molly. :)

persiflage said...

Welcome back, Molly. How good it was this morning to see you had posted. Hooray. I look forward to the next, and the next..

dianne said...

i, too, am happy to see that you've returned ... my mother tried to convince me that okra and snot were not the same thing and i never did believe it - the only way i could choke it down was deep-fried after being coated with buttermilk and cornmeal - and, seriously, i'd eat just about any vegetable that has been deep-fried - ha ha ha!

Stomper Girl said...

Your post gave me a good laugh with the lethal weapons, transferred weight and snot-salads. Isn't it weird how we'll cook for a man but not for ourselves. I'm exactly the same. Cx

StitchinByTheLake said...

I wish I had your hubby around to sharpen a few knives for me - my hubby puts that task off so long that I've been know to just give up and buy new ones. That'll teach him. :) blessings, marlene

molly said...

Wow! I thought I might get one or two comments, at most, since I've been missing for so long. I'm delighted that so many of you still bother to visit here and I will get around to visiting you all to see what you've been up to....

RR, EC, Lee: She has no leaves but she has curled herself around our hearts just like the watermelon vines that are currently curling around everything in sight in the garden....

gz: I looked it up ---black or Tuscan cabbage, but I don't think it's available here. I'll be keeping a lookout though!

Persi: I will try.... to do a next and a next and a next. I've missed you all but life gets in the way sometimes.

Stomper, Dianne: two good things about the transferred weight....It fills out some of the parts that sag and it's a great excuse to go shopping. As for snot, I thought at first the mention of it might offend some (those who perhaps don't have any!) but then I thought---snot is an inescapable fact of life as anyone who has children will agree, so now you know how these momentous decisions are made. Dianne --- your comment made me snort!

Stitchin': In spite of the need for Bandaids, I like knives to be sharp. Makes chopping, fingers as well as veggies, so much easier, and clean cuts heal faster.

Wisewebwoman said...

Okra is wonderful if you like some good Indian food, the only way to treat the snot.

GDaughter is a darling, gawd they do come that small!

I was delighted to see you updated on my RSS feed, see I didn't delete you, I had hope.

XO
WWW

Birdydownunder said...

Lovely lovely lovely to hear from you again. Garden looks great, Princess beautiful and those two male bodies look good.
but what about some reading ideas.
hugs from down under

Anonymous said...

Hey! I have missed you. Hope you will grace us with your presence more. About the okra, it doesn't work in salads. You have to wash the okra only immediately before use and dry the okra as much as possible before frying it.Over here, we usually fry with some curry powder.

molly said...

WWW:Too bad you're not nearby, I'd unload all that okra on you! Meanwhile I'm enjoying the flowers.

Birdy: I just finished Mao's Last Dancer which I think you recommended ---I loved it....before that was The Rector's Wife by Joanna Trollope which was good. In between i read The Tipping Point recommended by the OC and I recently scored a new load of books at a thrift store so I'll never catch up!

Squirrel: good to hear from you -- you should exchange recipes with WWW (above)!

jkhenson said...

I loved the update! I have found myself amidst the drought, as well. I appreciate your "watering" and am looking forward to picking it up again, as well. The pictures are lovely! What a wonderful garden!

molly said...

Jen: We'll have to encourage each other!

Thimbleanna said...

WooHoo -- you're back! I suppose the return of the OC is as good a reason as any for your absence. I was just wondering about you the other day -- and how you're managing the summer heat. Although, if it's anything like it is here, we're having a mild summer, which is wonderful.

I've never had the kind of snot you grow in a garden and I'm pretty sure I never will -- there's just something about it that isn't appealing. The same applies to that purple thing you have growing there. Otherwise, I love most other veggies. It looks like you have a big beautiful garden this year!

Ooooh, and I almost forgot to mention that little doll at the end -- she's adorable!!!

molly said...

Miss Anna-banana: that "purple thing" has been turned into the most delicious Eggplant Parmesan! and roasted, and grilled....yum yum yum!

Glad you didn't give up on me.

The Lass said...

So good to read from you! More, please :D

molly said...

Lassie: Great to hear from you....your little people must be little people no longer by now!

Pam said...

Wow! I hope all this appreciation will galvanise you into further action!

Thanks so much for the birthday card, waiting for me on our return from Norfolk. Another year bites the dust... .

Secret Agent Woman said...

You've been busy.

I have problems with many custardy textures, but okra I actually love.