The Girls Who Played With Fire ( And Flour)

 Yes, you're right.  I do need to be watering the garden and unloading the dishwasher.  We have just 5 hours until we need to be dressed and ready to go to the wedding.  But....

Did you know that the German Girl is a grill goddess?  Animal, vegetable, carbohydrate, she'll concoct a marinade and throw it on a fire.  This leaves me free to make a salad, pour her a drink and sneak off to do a little reading.

 She was marinaded and ready to grill last night when I realized we had no bread.  No baguette, no pita, no tortillas, no nothing.  And I like a little something, something with my meal. 

A quick internet search and voila, a recipe for flour tortillas.  Yes, this did put dinner off for another hour, but when we sat down at the table with our grilled steak, chopped salsa/ salad and homemade tortillas.....we were dos tranquilla mujeres.

 

Next time we'll cook them directly on the grill.  I know what girls like.

Food.

And fire.

Enjoy your Sunday.

And Now, The Weather

While we were sleeping.......it rained.  Not the all out thunderstorms, accompanied by lightening and golf ball sized hail that much of the east coast got.  Just rain.  I didn't even hear it.

But when I walked outside this morning the garden was wet, the soil was dark and the leaves were glistening.
That was me you saw down on her knees singing Halleluia.

In vegetable news, the peas are holding on, in this weather I know not how.  The raspberries are ripe, we have hail size onions,  the beans and edamame are flowering and the watermelon is wandering about and thinking about climbing up the fence.  And I spied a tomato.

Two more days of work and then we'll find ourselves in another garden.  This one belongs to our friends Sarah and Mary.  They own a teeny tiny 1860 pink farmhouse that was transplanted onto an equally small triangular corner in Washington D.C. many years ago. This is their first spring/ summer here and the little garden is a constant source of delight.

They will be married under a chuppah.  I'll get to make 2 bridal bouquets and a "halo" for Sarah's 5 year old daughter Parker. There will be the usual cast of female rugby players, many doctors, family of the brides, children and a florist and her GF.

 Love is a many splendored thing.  As is marriage equality.

How Hot?

100+ in the shade hot.

Eat a strawberry popsickle hot.

Cut up a watermelon hot.

Feed a few pieces of it to the dog hot.

Give your hot dog a shower in the vegetable garden hot.

 

Stay inside and change your header hot.  ( Thank you GG)

Look at pics from cooler days ( 95) hot.

And stay inside till dark.

Why?

Because it's too darn hot.

P.S. you know what else was really hot?  All of you old and new who came to the house party.  And still keep coming.  Our door is never locked:)

Flowers In The House Summer Style

We had a long and lovely weekend.  But the house is now empty. The Hai has returned to Connecticut, back to his boat and his lab and his computer.  Nirmal's mother has flown back to India, but has promised to return in March to meet her first grandchild. She left me with some new authors to read and foods to recreate.  I gave her a taste for iced lattes and majolica plates.  We'll be doing a little junking this spring. An unexpected but very welcome new friend was made.

We brought home  food, water and wine from the party and I begged an arrangement from Tini.  I usually don't like actual "arrangements" in the house but take a gander at these garden roses, and the sweet peas and the lilac....imagine the scent.  And the peony........oh my God.

The rest of the house is flowers as usual.  Tiny bouquets from the garden, on the kitchen windowsill.  Some needed inspiration for the endless time we spend at the sink, especially this weekend..

Also in the living room, an air plant residing in a bowl of shells and beach glass.

In the bedroom some hydrangea from the garden on my latest estate sale purchase.  A little wooden shelf for $8.00?,  not even a question.

I'll see this as I lay in bed tonight.

And my go to for the loo?  Always an orchid.

Now I'm off to water the garden and sip some more espresso. 

I promise to wash the dirt off before I come to your house:)

xo Jane

It Takes Two To Tango

The food was Northern Germanic and South  Indian.  The guests were a smorgasbord of nationalities:  Argentinian, Colombian, Indian, Polish, Swedish, Chinese, Slovakian, Russian, Scottish, British, Peruvian, Spanish, German and a smattering of Americans.  The wine was chilled, the night was sweet and summery and there was a tango demonstration which made us all break out into a sweat.

But the sweetest part of the evening, apart from the cupcakes, was the BIG announcement.  Tini and Nirmal are pregnant and in 6 months we will have a LiL Jane to to love and to cherish.  Ok, so far they have rejected this choice of names, but we have months to wear them down.  

Tomorrow we'll be coming to visit you at your house.  So put on a little music, pick a flower or two and  make some magic.

Any news you haven't shared?

I Wanna Come Over

I have mere minutes to write this.  GG is on her way back from the train station with her Papa.  Did I tell you we have another big party this weekend?  This is a reception for Tini and Nirmal's Indian wedding.  The fun never stops with this crew.

Today I did the flowers. A mid summer night's dream is the theme so everything looks very messy and magical   Overblown peonies, blowsy garden roses, masses of jasmine and passion vine, mint, love in the mist, and penny royal are some of the magical ingredients.  I hope to get some pictures tomorrow. They are sure to look lovelier on the tables than in the cooler.

But I wanted to get in a shout out for this Monday.  Flowers in the house anyone?  I've missed visiting you all and seeing what's blooming in your garden or what your farmers markets are selling.

I forgot to bring any flowers home tonight so I'll start us off with a big jug full of what's green and black in my yard.  Bronze fennel, elderberry foliage, false indigo pods and leaves, grapevine and sage.  Now this is messy.  But delicious smelling.

So shall we do it?  Who's up for a visit?  Don't bother to fuss, we're only after the flowers and a pithy comment or two.  You in?

xo Jane

Through A Screen Darkly

 GG is taking a class tonight from 6:30 to 10:30 which leaves me nothing to do but eat cherries, sip blackberry/lemonade and run from window to door taking pictures of our 1/2 hour tropical storm.  It came complete with a soundtrack of hail.  It was invigorating for me, boring to the Lab and probably irritating to the cat stuck outside in her boxwood cave.

Now the sun is out, the temperature is steamy, mosquitoes abound and I'm procrastinating doing anything I should be by talking to you.  So I'll tell you a tale.

 

A while back a customer was in the store and said she was looking for a good book for her book club.  I recommended " Blood, Bones & Butter" by Gabrielle Hamilton.

She came back last week to tell me she bought the book, started reading it, loved it and recommended it to her book club.  I thought that was the end but no....

Over spring break, she packed up her family and headed to New York. Ventured into Brooklyn and decided to go to Prune, the restaurant owned by Ms. Hamilton. She gets a table, meets Gabrielle, who joins them for lunch and she tells her the story of how she came to be there.  Then the conversation flits hither and yon, and they eat drink and fall about with laughter.

She owed it all to me she said. 

Damn.  I've got to get out of the house more often.