CSA Week 8: Sunflower days

It's a good day when you wake up to a giant hug from an old friend and a smile and a sunflower from your CSA. Besides those wonderful wake-up calls, I also received a pound of green beans, six tomatoes, 10 ears of corn, six peaches and four cucumbers, just in time for Fourth of July grilling. Grilled corn and peaches? How can you go wrong?

Price breakdown

• 1 lb. green beans: $2.49
• 6 tomatoes: $10.09
• 10 ears of corn: $11.97
• 6 peaches: $4.70
• 4 cucumbers: $7.96
• 1 sunflower: $1
• Total: $38.21 
• Total saved: $17.21

Surprise bloom

All this time I've spent talking about my tomato plants and I haven't really mentioned the citronella plants I purchased on the same sight-seeing trip I took to Anderson's for this blog post. While there I bought two tubs of citronella plants for $9.99 each. Yes it is that citronella and no they don't really work to keep the mosquitoes at bay as just plants. They do smell lovely though and if you take rub a crushed leaf on your skin it does seem to help a bit. This year we've been pretty blighted with mosquitoes, so every little bit helps.

Anyway, citronella is actually a citrus-scented geranium, so they do bloom. My mumsy-in-law grows them and said that in five years she hadn't seen a single bloom. But this year, her mother accidentally triggered the blooms by forgetting to water them for a few weeks. Turns out that not watering a blooming plant tends to do the trigger a survival instinct that pops out flowers to start the reproduction cycle:

Though some of my plant has turned yellow and brown, it has some gorgeous blooms on it now!

Styling and profiling my berry cobbler

This is my berry cobbler, featured in a photoshoot for Suffolk Living Magazine:

 Photo by R.E. Spears III, Suffolk News-Herald

Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

Fruit Cobbler
Adapted from Sally Smith, Suffolk gardener

For the batter:
1 cup self rising flour (I used White Lily)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 stick margarine or butter, melted

For the filling:
4 cups of berries (I used blueberries and blackberries)

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 8 X 8 inch pan and set aside.
• To make prepared fruit:  Mix 3/4 cup sugar with 3 tablespoons cornstarch.  Place 4 cups berries in a pan and add sugar/cornstarch mixture.  Add cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix.  Cook together, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken.  Set aside to cool slightly.  Add vanilla before placing over flour mixture.
  In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar and milk, stir until all the lumps are gone.  Pour batter into greased baking dish.
• Spoon fruit or berry mixture over flour/sugar/milk and then drizzle with melted margarine.
• Place casserole dish on a baking sheet with aluminum foil to collect any spills.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

One of the best things about this whole thing was flexing my food-styling skills. How do you think I did?

A trip to a magical land

Remember when I said I'd talk about the most magical place on earth? Well today I'm making good on my promise to take you there, in a matter of speaking.
First, the day's most exciting discovery:

 Candytufts! And lots of them. They were literally everywhere. I bought 6 of 'em just to make sure I'd have enough.

 Then there were these neat bags that you could plant things in but they hung on a wall or off a fence. The next evolution in vertical gardening?

 And rhubarb, glorious rhubarb. If it weren't for Miyagi and the chance he might accidentally eat the poisonous leaves, I might have bought a few pots.

 So pretty! And ready to give their life to make a strawberry pie better, I'd wager.

The place is huge, by the way. There is an outdoor nursery and two greenhouses, along with a gift section, cafe and sweet shop. I could lose myself for hours in the main greenhouse.

Among the ornamental plants:

Or delicious veggies and herbs:

 They even had bowls of lettuce:

 And some extremely beautiful dahlias:

This final feature is something shock and amaze. It's called "Magic Carpet Thyme":

The carpet part is due to its ability to grow quickly and spread out, to "carpet" the area you plant it in. The "magic" part, it turns out, is due to something even better. When I took a whiff to see how close to thyme it smelled like, it turns out it didn't smell like thyme at all. In fact, it smelled exactly like Fruit Loops. I'm not even joking. I circled back to snort some more right before we left and they still (amazingly) smelled exactly like one of my favorite childhood cereals. When I figure our where I might actually be able to plant these, I'm going back and I buying a bunch so I can make some area smell delicious!

Plant identification success

It's a candytuft! Yay!
Let me back up.
When we moved into the house, it came with some lovely bushes in the front plot, including three holly bushes, a dying azalea (I'm currently attempting to bring him back) and a few other types I can't immediately identify. There was also two crawling plants that were green and fairly pretty, despite it being winter. But it wasn't until spring that we learned that the gorgeous little guys sprout pretty white flowers. Like this:

The problem is that they were planted on only one side of the house, so the house just looks lopsided, especially with them in full bloom.

That's me in the reflection and to the right of the front stoop you can see our sad azalea. I hoping it will bounce back after a few doses of azalea food, purchased at the most magical place on earth, otherwise known as Anderson's Showplace, a gardening store in Newport News that I promise to talk about soon.

So I posted this photo on Facebook in the hopes that someone would be able to identify it.

Turns out one of my friends from Algeria that I met during a summer cultural exchange immediately knew and messaged me the name. So now all I have to do is get some candytufts to plant on the other side and my home will look less lopsided and more lived in. Now if only I can get the dying azalea to play along too!

More visions of Spring

Spring is popping up everywhere in Virginia. Grass is taking on a more lush feel and tiny flowers are coating areas of my backyard that had previously seemed dead.

Winter generally feels like it will never end, so it's the little reminders of spring that I am grateful for.

And it seems that spring is arriving on the blog as well. A bit of cleaning up here and there and updating many of the sections I have recently let stagnate has left me feeling cheerier. I've finally posted my columns under the "Outsider in Suffolk" tab and put the black bean soup recipe under the "From my kitchen" tab. And, as you might have noticed, I'm updating again. It's been a difficult few months, but I'm beginning to notice a new spring in my step, if you'll forgive the pun, and hopefully that will encourage more productiveness on my part.

Spring has arrived

Despite the return of chillier temperatures to the area, during a walk with Miyagi I discovered this beautiful sight:

Despite the leaves that we never bothered to rake from last fall, these daffodils have still managed to push their way into my yard, offering tidings of a great season.

Wordless Wednesdays: A table full of pie

Photo by Brinton Studios, via Style Me Pretty

Wordless Wednesdays: Fuji mums and Lemons

Photo by Carla Ten Eyck; From Little Black Book Blog

Wedding notes: On hair

It's one of the least important aspects of my wedding (to me) and yet it seems to be one of the first things women tend to ask me, right after what color my dress is (ivory) or what shoes I'll be wearing (yellow Converse). Who knew that hair was so important among us females. I certainly didn't. In any case, my hair will most likely be simple, just like every aspect of my wedding. For a few ideas, see the following wedding porn (as Ariel of Offbeat Bride fame calls it):

I like the simplicity of pulling back some of the hair, but leaving the rest loose. Plus you can't beat fresh flowers.

Long and loose, with a curling iron to add a bit of flair.

And then there is the low bun with a floral accent, which I'm leaning towards if it is hot and I don't want to get overheated.

Centerpiece ideas

I went on a wedding-blog-reading spree last night. It's been so long since I could stand seeing or talking about anything involving weddings. For a month there I was feeling overwhelmed and kept getting a sinking feeling every time I tried to stoke my creativity with wedding porn. There's still so much to do and so little time to do it, but I think I'm ready to get back to work on it.

My first step will be researching flowers since I've officially decided to take care of my own bouquets/boutonnieres/centerpieces. People have told me it's crazy, but I want laid back, simple arrangements and it would be easier to achieve that by not having a professional do them. Plus I'll be saving a lot of money. And, one of my secret dream jobs was as a florist, so now I can take a crack at it. It will be a bit of a task but I think I'll be OK, at least with the help of my friends. Right, guys?

Anyway, here is some wedding porn involving centerpieces and flowers.

I've already talked about my love of twine, but I think I also like the look of plain craft paper. It's clean and simple.

Right now, the only flower besides Calla Lilies that I know I want are Craspedia or Billy Ball's. I think they have amazing shape and are the right yellow pop I've been looking for. The bouquet featured in the top right of the above collage is so perfect. I love those white flowers in there. They look like mini-daisies and I MUST know what there. I guess that's something I'll need to be researching as well.

Finally, I think this is an awesome idea. I've already considered having lemonade as a beverage. Slicing limes and lemons into the bottom of a few vases/mason jars would look awesome and carry my color scheme into everything. Plus the smell would be so fresh!

NaBloPoMo: Favorite poem

National Blog Posting Month started yesterday. This month's theme is "Now." It is actually a very interesting theme. And this month they've also created writing prompts for the weekdays. Now I've never really had problems coming up with new posts, but when I connect with a prompt I will definitely use it. Yesterday the prompt involved what you wanted to be as a child. As you can see, it's a subject that has been occupying me recently.

Today I am prompted to reveal my favorite poem, or explain why I don't have one. I've always enjoyed poetry, with some of my favorite poets including William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. While I love "Sonnet 18" by Shakespeare and "A Dream Deferred" by Hughes, recently I've been discovering some poems by Frost that I hadn't read before. My current favorite is called "A Passing Glimpse," which was published in a collection entitled West-Running Brook. I have always been enamored with how Frost utilizes simple lines to reveal complex truths, and this poem is a prime example of that quality.


A Passing Glimpse
Robert Frost

I often see flowers from a passing car
That are gone before I can tell what they are.

I want to get out of the train and go back
To see what they were beside the track.

I name all the flowers I am sure they weren't;
Not fireweed loving where woods have burnt--

Not bluebells gracing a tunnel mouth--
Not lupine living on sand and drouth.

Was something brushed across my mind
That no one on earth will ever find?

Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close.

Wednesday wedding inspiration: Yellow

Well my wedding colors so far are ivory and clover (as the bridesmaid dresses are). But these are not randomly chosen colors. Actually they were chosen using the classic calla lily as inspiration. But there is one color left in my inspiration - yellow. Just like in a calla lily, I want yellow to be used sparingly as an accent throughout the decor. So without further ado, here are my ideas for yellow accents:

Bouquet featuring yellow billy balls from Elegance & Simplicity

I see my bouquet being mostly ivory flowers and greenery, but I think these billy balls will add the perfect pop of color.



I've planned on wearing converse for awhile now. Many brides incorporate pops of color with their shoes to add personality. Why not do it with bright yellow chucks?


And since I'm already loving paper lanterns, why not make them a cheery yellow?

Celebrating spring: Lemon Coconut Bars

I love spring. There's no better feeling than the warm sun on your face and a cool breeze blowing through your hair after months of depressing, gray and cold days. And witnessing trees bud, bloom and turn green always gives me hope for the future.
I would say that by far it is the bright colors that can help make life seem better again. I always thought that a gorgeous bunch of daffodils was one of the most happiest sights in the world. What better way to celebrate the lemony yellow of the flower that signals that Spring has finally arrived than with a lemony dessert?
I've never been a huge fan of lemon bars or tarts. I find most recipes either too sour or too sweet. And then I happened on a recipe from Budget Bytes (this is becoming my favorite place to discover recipes) for lemon coconut bars. It seems Beth (the blog's author) has happened upon the best way to mellow out and balance the sour without overpowering it with sweet. A perfect compliment to the balance of warmth and coolness that is embodied in the ideal Spring day.

Lemon Coconut Bars
Don't forget Beth's helpful breakdown of cost. Her estimate puts the total at an amazing $2.38.

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup shredded coconut

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flower and powdered sugar. Mix until evenly combined.
   
3. Let the butter come to room temperature and then just work it into the flour mixture with your hands. Mixture will look like lumpy sand.
4. Lightly spray a 9x13 inch glass casserole dish with non-stick spray. Pour the flour/butter/sugar mixture evenly into the dish and press it down with your hands until it is compacted. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. While the crust is baking, combine the eggs, granulated sugar, lemon juice and baking powder in a bowl. Mix it well until the sugar is dissolved. The baking soda will react with the acidic lemon juice and begin to foam, don't worry.
6. When the crust is finished baking, quickly re-whisk the filling then pour it over the crust. Sprinkle the shredded coconut on top and bake the whole thing for 20 more minutes or until it is golden brown on top. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.
   

The squares were a hit with my future in-laws (it's been way too long since we got to see each other!). And they fit almost perfectly with the strawberry pie that was served as the other half of dessert. It was lovely to scoop up the leftover strawberry filling with the lemony squares.

Wednesday wedding inspiration: Mason jars galore

When I think of my wedding flowers I've been imagining bunches of simple flowers placed in mason jars. Like these:


But though I've been planning on white flowers for my bouquet, I'm all about the fun pops of color I could work into decorations.


There's just something homey and amazing about mason jars. And there's a bit more natural feel to the fact that you can see the stems in the vase.



My final photo I discovered is this ridiculously cute metal fly guard. I just want this for my normal life. This is so much better than a paper towel because it won't fly away and you won't be wasting the paper.