a smaller life

garlic scape pesto

 

Image courtesy of purlingplans

  

We subscribed to a CSA this year- One Straw Farm is supplying most of our vegetables this summer. It's a great deal and I'm so excited to have begun- we have the opportunity to get all of these delicious local veggies and to try some new things, too.

Like scapes, for example- the twirly, curly tops of garlic. I've eaten them before, but never made anything with them, until this week. They were in my CSA box this week, and we were scrambling to look for something to make with these. I nibbled the edges, never having had one raw before, and the taste was somewhere between blanched garlic and sweet green grass. It was the perfect summer flavor, and I had no idea how to use it.

We were strolling through MOM's this weekend and lo and behold, the answer was handed to me: garlic scape pesto samples, complete with a recipe. There are no words for how fantastic these are- we bought thin- sliced, rustic whole- grain bread to eat this with.

 

Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients:

10 garlic scapes, trimmed & chopped

1/3 cup roasted almonds

1/3 cup fresh- grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup olive oil

sea salt, pepper

basil leaves, fresh

Instructions:

Use a food processor or a blender to mix the scapes, almonds, cheese and 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Stop the mixer, scrape the sides with a spatula, then add the rest of the oil and blend again. Add salt and pepper and blend one last time until your pesto is at the consistency you like best. Spread on lightly toasted bread or crackers, then top with grated parmesan cheese and one leaf of fresh basil.

You can freeze this to save it- it will hold for up to one year. If you're regrigerating leftovers, add a drop of olive oil and cover the surface with wax paper. 

Nom.

the fourteenth list of Very Good Things

 

The fourteenth List Of Very Good Things. Broken out on Flickr, as always.

on the color pink

Cosyknits recently wrote a post about her changing views on color that is so appropriate to how I've been thinking, lately. I am coming to view colors differently- I've been watching myself shift from murky deep dusk colors into the bright and clear tones. There is still depth there, but I've been feeling a lot more playful with my color choices lately.

 

(This amazing, thigh- high sample sock was knit out of Skinny Bugga summer colorways by the lovely and talented Katydid Knits.)

This summer is full of surprises for me- some positive, some negative, some just… well, surprising. Looking at all my new colors on the lines, I can't help but wonder exactly what is happening with me, lately; my colors are bright and rich and jewel- toned. There are even a few strong pastels in there- strong enough to almost not qualify as pastels, but so light… well, maybe I need a new word for whatever those are.

They are gorgeous, though. That word fits. They are lovely and they just flash out at  me. They are influenced by the time of year, I'm sure, but even more by the people in my life; a lemon- chartreuse for Pamela, a darkish blue for my sister Megan (like her eyes), a purple- magenta for my aunt Karen. But there is nothing in there to explain the pale pink, or the orange with hot pink flashes; they are just there, lovely and colorful, and I've no idea where they have come from, of why I want to make them. 

It is the pinks that startle me. I've always hated pink; I've seen it as insipid, or obvious, or silly. But I don't, any more: certainly there are pinks that fit that description- Barbie pink, how I hate you- but there's something sweet and sensual in the pinks I've been making lately, delicate and generous.

 

 

Somehow, I am turning into a girl who loves pinks. Peachy pinks, nude negligee pinks, soft buttery yellows with pink tones, it's in everything. I've dyed a champagne color that I am so in love with, and I have thoughts of dusky grey- pinks, too. 

I have no idea what that means, but while I'm figuring it out, I'll be dyeing silk scarves for myself in every pink I can dream.

the thirteenth list of Very Good Things

 

 I'm back, I promise, and with the 13th list of Very Good Things, too. Broken out over here.

I have things to say, but not today. Today is a headache day. Tomorrow should be better. In the meantime, have some Hugo.

 

Puppies make most things pretty all right.

 

 

the waiting game

 

Still no real answers from Sam's doctors. There's a lot of talk about how rare this is, and a lot of interns coming in to peer at him- baby doctors, is what I call them in my head. They're cute, all inquisitively asking the same questions, all confusion and wonder. They look at my husband as though he is some privilege they receive, this statistical, diagnostic wonder. And I suppose he is, and I'm grateful they get the chance.

The waiting, though, is interminable. They can't seem to lower the pressure in his head at all; it isn't climbing, but it isn't going down, and we're at about the end of what pharmaceuticals can manage. The next step would be a spinal tap- more of a drain, the word "tap" used the way you'd tap a maple tree. I hope we don't get there, but at least that's an option before all the talk of stents and shunts.

So that's where we are. Waiting. Hoping. Crossing everything. Knitting, incessantly, that too. But mostly just waiting. I'm getting better at that.

 

the twelfth list of Very Good Things

  

   

Another list of Very Good Things. Broken out in flickr, here. (Apologies for a cut and paste link- I'm typing from my phone, and I'm not sure if this app accepts HTML.)

For those who haven't heard, Sam is in the hospital again. He's been in Hopkins since Sunday, when he suffered a cerebral vein thrombosis. It is his third- the first two showed up in 2006. He had been chipping away at those clots for 4 years with a blood thinner called Coumadin, and last month a vascular Neuro gave him a clean bill of health and took him off of the blood thinners. The chance of recurrence in someone of good health with no clotting disorders was virtually nil, he said.

I don't know what the word for someone who has the luck to be that .1% is, but we're it. I think the word is unlucky, actually. Hell.

It is harder today to focus on what is good, although they do tend to stand in stark contrast against everything else right now. Still, it isn't all bad; they doctors and nurses are kind, the prognosis is thus far pretty good, and the outpouring of support and well- wishes has been wonderful.

For those who have asked where to send cards- and thank you, so much, thinking of us- here is the address.

Johns Hopkins Bayview

Samuel Taylor, patient

Neurology critical care unit, 677A

4940 Eastern Ave

Baltimore, MD 21224- 2780

 

Be well, all. 

so soon?

On my way in from this morning's run I noticed that our tomatoes are begining to arrive. It seems so early for that sort of thing, but I've such a black thumb; I could be wrong. I'm terribly excited about them already, whispering welcomes as I water them, wondering if it is cruel to be kind to something I'm so looking forward to eating.

That is all.

the eleventh list of Very Good Things

 

 

The eleventh list. This one is short-not for a lack of things that are wonderful but for a lack of time in which to enjoy them. There's been a lot going on- school interviews (that's a long story for a different blog) and Kiddo's prom and Dye Camp preparations, puppy training and vet visits and yoga and running and trying, desperately, to catch up on a lot of sleep lost lately. Agh.

It's okay, I'll get caught up eventually. Right? I mean, sooner or later I have to.

I don't want to follow that set of thoughts to their seemingly inevitably depressing conclusion. Instead: here's a break out of my scrawl on Flickr, and a midweek post coming soon. There are a lot of great things to be happy about this week that I'm missing on this list. I'd love to hear your happy lists, people. 

currently making me happy

 

A goblin of my very own, from Goblin Road. (Shortcut to their shop here.) He needs a name, of course. Currently considering: Gilbert, Thornfield, Hareton, Jude, and Farfrae. (My Vic lit obsession, it is eating up my year.) I'm open to other ideas, of course. Suggestions/ votes? He'll be in Atlanta at Stitches South with us, in case you need to see him in person to make up your mind. 

Monday's list of very good things, even better

 

Broken out here, as ever. Holding the page down is my new flask. I wish you could see it better- it has a giant squid on it. A giant squid! Giant! Squid! You can see another like it here. I love it.

Speaking of love: Sam and I went to meet with his vascular neurologist this afternoon. We've been waiting for this appointment for about four years now, I think. It's an immense relief to be able to say that finally, finally, finally, he has a clean bill of health. The doctors have declared him healthy- no more clot, no major vascular or clotting disorders, and no more Coumadin.

That's all I really have to say, today: the best thing that has happened in 4 years happened today.