Summer Soltice 2015

And apparently it's Father's Day too, poor Dad has gone and has been now for over a decade and he is missed and remembered for the lovely person he was.

The heat has been unrelenting here in The Sierra (California and the whole west actually), a steady two weeks of upper 80's and mid 90's with a few 100's just to keep us sweating, and yes when it's this hot you sweat.

Combine that we the gawd awful drought, and you might say it's hell, although I'm told I live in Paradise, well that's what it says when you drive into town.

Farmer's Market is in full swing now, which is just as well since I haven't really grown anything this year due to water restrictions. A couple of Sungold tomato plants for Zadie to pick, when she visits.

Fruit on some trees have ripened, no cherries this year, all just dropped before they did anything.


I let all the Artichokes blossom in an effort to provide the precious bees extra pollen.

The Lavender is absolutely vibrating from the hovering bees, there are so many different types, big fat bees, some bees that are barely a quarter inch long, and of course the honey bees, that seem to come swooping in droves. We did manage to put together a bee hotel and as far as I can tell we have a resident, or at least the residue of a resident that bore out a hole.

garlic, onion, eggplant

carrots then beans

squash

Last Tuesday at market I picked up eggplant, squash, onions, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, carrots and mushrooms.

mushrooms, parsley

Last night I made Ratatouille, summer stew with Merquez Lamb and Boar sausages.

Lamb & Boar Sausages

add Mushrooms

Add tomatoes

Add vegatables

Add herbs, simmer 15 minutes

Sauteed items up separately then after the meat was cooked started adding the vegetables back in, popped the lid on, and simmered covered on low heat for around 15 minutes. A couple of glasses of wine and baquette for Mr. G. Easy meal for hot summer night and that was really good tasting, I did add fresh thyme, oregano and a bay leaf. No salt was needed and I didn't add any pepper either.

I cooked half a cup of rice, and served the summer stew over the rice,  takes around 35 minutes to cook and 5 minutes of fluff when it's done, so start cooking rice when you begin sauteing the meat.

3 cloves garlic
1 small red onion
3 small eggplants
3 small squash
6 crimini mushrooms
big handful parsley
4 small carrots
handful of beans
1-1/2 lb sausage, slice into inch bits
fresh oregano
fresh thyme
6 tomatoes, or medium can
1 bay leaf