This week I’ve been down with a summer cold. A summer cold is its own thing, inexplicable– how could I catch something in the summer? And maybe more awful for its misery in the face of lovely weather. I’m not sure, except that this one, with its combination of searing sinus headache and nagging cough, meant I just did what was necessary all week and slept when I could.
Unfortunately, it coincided with visits by Steve’s daughters Catherine and Martha. It all came together with the arrival of Martha and her boyfriend Chris and a German couple, at the end of an epic road trip which included the car catching on fire in Barstow, California, and a freezing night at 11,000 feet and a 20-hour marathon drive through the mountains. It was one of those great rambling road trips you can only take in your 20s and they were happy to be off the road.
Nothing makes me happier than to be able to serve up a lot of food from the garden. Near the end of the week, the cousins Sophia and Chloe and Sophia’s friend Paul were around, and Thursday evening after seeing Paul in concert in St. Cloud, they drank some beer and played ping pong in the furniture studio. A large part of the trip was the making of a short fashion-centered film by Catherine, starring Sophia and Chloe. So as usual there has been a great atmosphere of creativity and buzzing activity, mostly scouting locations and buying props.
For Friday night, with the nine extraordinarily good looking young people and Tim and Annie over, I had grand plans: fettuccine with zucchini ribbons and pesto, Spanish greens (beet greens and chard with raisins), roasted beets with feta, grilled herbed potatoes with mustard aioli, and of course, bratwurst from the meat market.
I had all the makings of this meal, but in the end I pared it down, putting out chips and salsa (yes, even the highly questionable cheese salsa in a jar) and watermelon and skipping the beets and greens. I did, however, have enough fresh lettuce in the garden to make a great green salad topped with carrots, radishes, shaved beets and a few cherry tomatoes. The vegetarians were well fed!
It was a great victory over the summer cold. The food was delicious and we had a good time. Afterwards, the “kids” went back to the ping pong table and I went off to bed. I slept the whole day Saturday, through the marathon film shooting, the house quiet and empty for the first time in a week, and today I feel much better.
Which means I’ll be back to weeding the garden… and blogging regularly… starting now!
Your week of rest and refueling, getting rid of the virus reminds me of my raised beds! Had to pull everything out that fried and died and mildewed; starting fresh with new compost and rescued strawberry plants (that have been eaten to the ground by deer). Hopefully you and the strawberries will enjoy the rest of the summer growing fresh and healthy! 🙂
Love your pictures!
Oh no! Kathy, I’m sorry to hear about your garden! What’s going on out there? My next blog is going to be about my critter troubles… but they are by no means ruining any crops! I continue to think berries are just not worth it if there are places nearby where you can pick them yourself. Though I went to the blueberry place last week at 10 a.m. and they were already picked out!