rain dance

Water coming from the sky? How can that be? We have had a few episodes of about fifty drops (I woke in the night, ecstatic -- thunder, rain . . . pitty pat pat pat pat, period). We are watering as much as we dare. Early spring crops are suffering in dry August heat. 90 degrees today. High winds, the look of looming storms, but NOAA gives only 50 percent chance, when even 80 per cent has brought us (as Ben would say) nuffing. I hung up clothes this morning, two loads, and it was like putting them in the dryer. The heat and wind dried everything in less than an hour. How wonderful it must have been in Gainesville. Actual rain! Hope you get more.

Anyway, I want to rush into print to give details of Marty's lovely luncheon yesterday. She made the bean/tomato bruschetta from the new FC (26a), as well as the butter lettuce salad on 48. Both were excellent choices, beautifully executed. Both will go straight into my repertoire. She also made an onion tart based on Julia Child, but varying from the recipe: it was made with vidalias (available in town from the shriners -- I hope I run into some, since our onions from last summer have finally bitten the dust) which she caramelized for an hour, cream (and other things, but no cheese, a brilliant choice), and a star pattern of asparagus. It was beautiful, perfect crust, delicious. We should have taken a picture. And dessert was her home-made strawberry-mango sorbet. All washed down with champagne. Brava, Marty!

Here's Ben's bed:

He's very proud of this loft. Marty says it's a bitch to make, though.

The kitchen continues. Here's my bread-making board, now complete (still no drawers):

As you see, it's lower than the rest of the island. Perfect for kneading and rolling out. I am most pleased with it; it was christened with a batch of whole-wheat pita a few days ago. Charlie is working on drawers (still with temporary fronts) as we speak.

One more kitchen image. The goal is to have the counters as clear as possible, so here's the breakfast nook:

This works great! Charlie's idea, and an excellent one.

Quick garden report. What's in: peas, beginning to climb the chicken wire; broccoli, transplants we grew, and very good looking, I might add; garlic planted last fall, now quite large; purchased transplants of cabbage (early and late) and one more attempt at cauliflower (all previous attempts have failed, but we've never tried it in this particular garden); onions; leeks; a few radishes (daikon and French breakfast); seeds for scallions (an experiment); kale (new crop); fennel (just today, some home-made transplants, some seeds). My experimental wild arugula, cilantro, dill bed (meant to reseed itself year after year) , now in its second year, is up, weedy, but has a lot of little plants of all three things. And I guess that's it. We are mulching exclusively with straw (as opposed to plastic or hay), and we'll see how that goes. Much less of a hassle than plastic, we believe.

Anyway, that's it for the moment. Thanks again, Marty!