A post never posted, well I guess I did do MIA

found rocks into wire column

Just read this lovely article from The New York Times, now I think this is mellow, and I think I travelled too much this summer, and if that wasn't enough bought an iPad, so back to roots and weeds. Quite ironic that only the evening before I wrote to some dear friends and said I was going to be offline for a while.Then I read the article this morning, I think I'm on the right track. The article, is quite lengthy, but I found quite inspiring and interesting.

"So I am going to be MIA for a while, I've been OTT with some opinions and thoughts lately. Of course all my suggestions|thoughts were reasonable, well not actually. That's okay. But going to be mellow and lay low for a while, nothing is wrong just me putting me on a time out."

Herb and Roses

Yesterday was fun, I was weeding and turned to Gary who was helping with something else (fencing to keep the varmits out) and I said, I think we should eat weeds we have so many of them, and they are green. I might experiment soon.

The weed I was mulling over yesterday apparently is a woodsorrel and can be eaten in moderation, like some in a salad, I will have to leave some to sample in the gravel paths next to the raised vegetable beds. Ted our lovely neighbour, dropped off Snow Peas that are about 6 inches big, so they are the first winter crop. Drizzly weather today, perfect for gardening, and it's going to get rather warm again tomorrow and the coming week.

Old gate reused

new raised beds, peas

We will have to keep our eyes and ears peeled this evening, apparently the bear is back. It  absconded with one of the neighbour's bins. Also apparently shimmed up a tree, and sent the cats flying under the neighbour's bed. 

So all of this was written two months ago, we got pummelled with wind, rain and snow. The peas got ripped out of the ground along with the trellis. I had covered all the beds in plastic and they blew all over the place, clothespins do not hold the plastic in place, lesson learned.

Snow at 8:00 AM

A Merry Christmas with the Family

December 21st the morning we left for San Francisco, we got our pre Christmas snow fall, oh joy, but it was gone by the time we returned a few days later, but the weather was downright wet, I mean very wet and windy. I might have to rethink about any vegetable harvest until early Spring planting. There's always next year thank goodness.



 Mascarpone & Goat Cheese Tart w/ Crispy Hash Brown Crust

Ingredients:
cooking spray
3 ozs baby arugula or spinach
2 tbsp butter, softened, plus more for pan
1 lb package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
8 large eggs
sea salt and ground pepper
½ cup light sour cream
½ cup marscapone
1 cup half and half
sea salt
6 ozs grated Fontina cheese
2 ozs goat cheese, crumbled (goat cheese crumbles easily if you freeze for about 30 minutes beforehand)
6 scallions/green onions, thinly sliced

Directions:
1. Steam arugula, gently and chop into pieces.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3. Spray a 9-by-2 1/2-inch spring form pan with cooking spray, then brush with butter. Line the sides of the pan with strips of parchment paper (the same height as pan); brush paper with butter - this part is essential - it will give you the lovely golden crust and keep the crust from sticking to your pan.

4. Place hash browns on 3-4 thicknesses of paper towels and fold paper towels over potatoes. Hold over sink and squeeze excess moisture from hash browns.

5. Remove hash browns from paper towel packet and place in a bowl with butter, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Pat into bottom and up sides of prepared pan, using your hands. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until set, 15 to 20 minutes.

6. Place cooled arugula on 3-4 thicknesses of paper towels and using technique in step 4, squeeze out excess liquid.

7. In a large bowl, whisk 7 remaining eggs, sour cream, marscapone, half and half cheddar cheese, arugula, 1 teaspoons sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper until well combined.. Pour into crust, and sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese. Bake until set, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove outer ring of spring form pan, and gently peel off parchment paper.