Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Feast


Not my finest pictures.  Imagine hobbling around a table, ace bandaged ankle shoved in a flip flop, followed closely by a hot, hungry horde. Trying to keep my balance while attempting to point and shoot. It was a little scary.

It was also a little hot, temperatures in the 90's and given a choice between mowing the lawn or bringing the air conditioners down from the attic, we smartly chose the lawn. Small, charming and sweltering.

All signs pointed to salads.


I was excited to try a recipe from Plenty, the grilled zucchini salad tosses with handfuls of green
and purple  basil, ( straight from the garden ;-), splashes of balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper.  I skipped the hazelnuts because of course we had a guest who was allergic to tree nuts.

Luckily not to ground nuts so he could load up on GG's favorite DanDan noodles.  Spicy with chili paste, crunchy with chopped scallions and radish these Mark Bittman noodles are the hit of every summer party.


  I cobbled together a Persian cucumber salad with  smashed garlic, scallions, salt , pepper, a handful of parsley and mint and a splash of rice wine vinegar.


  Another guest was allergic to avocado which was an integral part of a roasted beet salad tossed with mint, olive oil, fresh lime juice and flavored with salt and pepper.



No matter, I knew he wasn't a beet loving kind of guy.

There was also a heaping platter of grilled chicken but once I took off its wrapping I got the hell out of Dodge.  They may have been hot but they were hungry.

We finished the evening in he most perfect way possible. Iced coffees, strawberry, rhubarb crumble straight from the farm and the piece de resistance?

They took down my dead crepe myrtle tree!  GG in a sundress and the boys from the farm took that sucker down.  They also left 3 suckers standing so we have the beginning of a whole new tree.

It's gonna be a good summer.






     





 
















17 comments:

  1. Shall I fax over a list of my own allergies so that you can be amply prepared for my visit? I wouldn't want to cause a last minute bother.

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  2. VERY sorry to hear about the ankle, nightmare. - apart from the icing and reading about Sissinghust bit which sounds divine!

    Only GG could topple a tree in a sundress. Kudos.

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  3. Thanks so much for sharing that beet salad recipe! A combo of all my favourite things. Yum!

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  4. All looks delish...and refreshing which is the word of the week. Cucumber salads just scream Summer and do I spy some fiestaware? OK, I need you to send me a picture of what the crepe myrtle shoot looks like; my neighbor across the street wants some from mine, we looked all over and couldn't seem to find one, or figure it out. Thank you :)

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    1. On my God, ours shoots up all over. I'll get a pic this weekend.

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  5. Wow, that all looks so good! I'm totally going to try the beet salad, as Whitney and I both are big fans of avocado (we're even trying to grow a few of them!) and interesting ways to eat them. Thank you for the inspiration, Jane! :D

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    1. Give Whitney a squeeze and an avocado from me xo

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  6. My idea of a feast--I'm excited to try the beet salad--I never would have thought of using avocados.

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  7. Aww sorry about your ankle Jane ! Hope you mend quickly. Love the photos of the food, it all looks delicious. First thing in the morning here and I'm hungrier now than ever : )) The garden looks great too .
    Feel Better Soon ~ Robyn Xo

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  8. A great summer, indeed! I am very hopeful for that. the beet salad looks great - gonna give it a try, too. You gotta love red veggies!

    Hope the ankle is better and that you are staying off it a bit. xoxo

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  9. Life at your house sounds like so much fun!

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  10. I'll take a serving of those noodles right away.... well as soon as you can hobble over will do!
    Paul

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  11. Just catching up...been away and (blog) lazy...sorry about your ankle...who did you kick. Looks like you managed anyway and had a great (Memorial) day...loved the picture of your bedside table with the comment wishing you were lying next to it..had a laugh at that one! Have a great weekend...we're all in Jubilee mode...lots of celebrations (and drinking), yay! Robx

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  12. Your summer feast looks amazing...I can't imagine being allergic to avocado...I live on them...having three stages of ripeness in my pantry at all times. Sorry to hear about your ankle...I missed that post.

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  13. Ooh... I'm definitely going to be trying the zucchini and noodles, they look like the perfect addition to any BBQ :)
    And I've been MIA lately moving so I've missed what happened to your ankle, I hope it's not too bad and heals quickly xo

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  14. Allergic to avocado lol?! Good one-reminds me of a series I watched years ago, think it was gilmore girls, no it was sex in the city when carrie and boyfriend at the time (failed author) can;t remember the guys name went out to a restaurant and she told the waiter "No parsley please I'm allergic".
    After the waiter had gone he hissed at her that she wasn't allergic she just didn't like it! (Relationship was in death throes by then anyway!) Anyway think you might have a Carrie parsley/avacado hater on your hands! If not then an apology will be forthcoming....
    Plus that book Plenty looks amazing have been think about buying it for a while.

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