Raspberries

Before we left Maryland, a friend gave us a small raspberry plant. It wasn't more than a twig with a couple of leaves on it sticking out of a pot. I transplanted it into one of my old terracotta pots, packed it into the back of the Rav4, and moved to Chesapeake. I didn't think much of it, and certainly didn't expect it grow at all this year. Well, it has grown quite a bit. It even started flowering several weeks ago, but I didn't think much would come of the blossoms.

The pot flipped over during one of the many, many storms we've had this summer. The only damage it received was on the one branch that had flowers on it (swell...). I thought the branch would die, and that would be it for the summer.

Then, yesterday, I saw delicate little berries hanging on the end of the drooping branch. Two of the berries were ripe! Gently I picked them. One for Steve and one for me. Perfect berries.

This photo is from this morning. More perfect berries.

I guess the moral is: if you don't expect too much from your garden, it will bring you nothing but joy.

Caprese Salad

1 1/2 lbs various tomatoes
8 oz fresh mozzarella, drained and sliced
fresh basil leaves

slice the larger tomatoes in 1/4 inch slices. Cut small tomatoes in half. Layer the large tomato slices with the mozzarella on a small platter. Sprinkle small tomato halves liberally. Place basil leaves evenly throughout salad. Drizzle dressing over whole platter.

Dressing:
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

whisk until smooth.

I added a little extra salt and pepper over the salad before serving.

Garden Spider

I have noticed this spider "hanging" around my tomatoes lately. I hadn't seen one like this before and didn't know if it was poisonous or not. Today I finally got around to researching the spider and found that she is a Black and Yellow Garden Spider, also known as Argiope aurantia. She's not dangerous to humans (a bite sounds about as bad as a wasp sting), and she's very beneficial to gardens.

Hopefully, I can can get a photo of the dragonfly that has made a home in my garden as well.

Where I've Been

Okay, okay...I know. I've been AWOL for these last couple of months. That's because I bought a house. I've spent most of the summer unpacking and organizing. Oh yeah, and gardening!We built a 4 by 8 raised bed before the furniture even arrived and planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, eggplant, basil, and cilantro. The tomatoes and basil have gone positively viral! Everything else has been so-so. Above is a photo of the yellow pear tomatoes and some onions from my garden. The other tomatoes are coming soon!

This weekend we are building more raised beds to begin the Fall garden. Now that the boxes are all unpacked and everything is mostly put away, I should have more time for my blog. Stay tuned!

House Hunting

Steve and I went down to Chesapeake to look for a house this last weekend. We were really hoping to get a newly built house. Well...that's not going to happen. Every single place we looked at had something really, really wrong with it. One was in a swamp (plus it wouldn't be ready in time); several were too close to the freeway; one was too close the Navy airfield where f-18 hornets circled overhead, non-stop; one was 20 feet from the railroad tracks (that one also had what appeared to be drug dealers squatting in it). After looking at all those places, and feeling a bit discouraged, Steve suggested we look at some suggested neighborhoods. Bingo! We found the Great Bridge area to be totally to our liking. We will visit again in April and hopefully find that dream-house!



"When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England."

Happy Superbowl Sunday

Oh yes, and don't forget tomorrow is Groundhog's Day. I totally forgot to decorate for Groundhog's day!

Anyway, Steve and I are going to pull the couch up to the sad, tiny, 32 inch television and watch the game. Once we move to the new house we swear to get a big screen TV. With Blueray (yes!). For now I'm making pizza, half hawaiian and half sausage, 7 layer bean dip with tortilla chips, and chocolate chip cookies. It doesn't seem like much, but after all there are only 2 of us.

GO STEELERS!

Book of the Week

I highly recommend "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett. This is an unusual story about a group of terrorists that takes a group of international businessmen and one female opera singer hostage. The story explores the relationships that develop between the individuals, hostage and terrorist alike, through the use of Gen, a Japanese translator as well  as through the language of music. I give this book a thumbs up.

A New Perspective

For those of you in the know, I have recently (today) shut down my cooking blog. I had plans for it, but... oh well. Because of this, and the limited gardening season here, I've decided to include other things on this blog to make it more interesting. You might even see a post about cooking once in a while :-)

Where I've Been

Nowhere special. Just right here. In Maryland all gardening pretty much stops in October with the planting of the bulbs and resumes when said bulbs finally emerge. I planted about fifty huge daffodils in my front yard last fall so we should have quite a show come March or so.

I did plant some Paperwhites (stinky) and some amaryllis this winter. The amaryllis are still blooming.