Okay, I've saved up a lot of pictures, so let's get to it.
On our regular neighborhood walk, the skunk cabbage have begun to bloom. This one was in the roadside ditch. Strangely lovely, for such a funky name, huh?
We'll get right on to some household silliness. You might recognize these two BFFs.
This is not a great picture, but it was darkish in the barn, and my cell phone isn't up to much in the darkish. This is Silvertoes the mama kitty in the barn.
She's quite preggers. *sigh* She's watching me from about 6 feet away, by the corner of the cage I feed them in. I'm slowly moving closer to them all, with the help of a handful of kibble which I judiciously toss towards them, tempting them closer and closer. This morning, the big black tom showed up too, and was pretty surprised to see me! I hope we can trap him, too!
The sun and less freezing temps are tempting the trees and plants to come out of hibernation. This is our young curly willow, with its lovely metallic bark.
See the red and yellow in the bark?
The plums are close behind. H trimmed off a couple twigs, whch we brought inside. The transformation in just a few hours was amazing!! We started with this:
And the next day it looked like this:
We'll wrap up this post (then start another) with some moments from the Iron Chef of Blackburnia. Here you see him in the careful moments of plating.
It's essential to maximize those important presentation points!
"Chef, please tell us about your creation."
"Thank you, Chairman. Here you have a leek and seitan filled ravioli, boiled in the traditional way then pan-fried in olive oil, with a rich sauce of tofu, herbs and spices. Some of the filling rides alongside as a playful salad accompaniment, and there's an additional creamy note in the perfectly ripe avocado, which we've touched with just a hint of paprika to set off the color. I hope you enjoy it."
Mmm! The judges were quite pleased, I'm happy to report.
On to the next post!
OMG! Iron Chef - LOL! Too funny! I wish I were a judge on Iron Chef night. But what this wannabe wants to know is the pasta hand-home made? And the plum tree cutting???? No way! That's absolutely incredible. What does it look like today?
ReplyDeleteJudge's Comment: I would have preferred some counterpoint to the creamy texture in the ravioli, sauce, and avocado. Something crunchy - perhaps some fried leeks? It's just possible, having to judge from this distance, that the pan fried ravioli bits were crunchy enough to provide the textural difference one craves in a well-rounded dish! LOL!
ReplyDeleteThe judge's comments are astute! The side of leek filling had some distinct texture, as did the stuffing inside the raviolis themselves. There was also a delightfully chewy texture to the toastier fried bits of pasta. Which was, by the way, wonton skins.
ReplyDeleteThe plum cutting is allover blooms! It's loverly!