May has completely gotten away from me. So much is happening with life and work and nature. I can hardly keep up. In fact, I haven't kept up with this blog! I blame the fact that I spent almost two months at home which is unheard of for me. I got sidetracked from sitting in front of my computer all evening by things like kittens, horses, getting back in shape, and sunsets.
Luckily (for my desire to have this be a record of what plants come up throughout the year) I have taken A LOT of pictures that have dates associated with them. And I am back to my nomadic life style where I bounce between the barn and hotels. There aren't too many distractions at hotels. So I can slowly catch up.
I shall start tonight. (I'm not in a hotel yet, so don't feel bad for me on Memorial Day). And if I'm diligent I'll be all caught up with May by the end of this week...June!
I have to start off by saying that nothing has happened to top the raccoon. As I said, I have set a high bar for this blog with that little episode. My apologies in advance for the posts this week. I didn't do anything too extreme lately. At least that I can think of... yesterday I went for a swim in the Maine ocean. Does that count?
Note all the other Mainiacs...
FYI, when the water temperature is below 60F you can't swim very far. A friend and I tried what seemed like a simple swim out to a buoy (pictured in the distance to the right) and back. By the time we got back to the dock we couldn't do the crawl because our arms wouldn't listen and come out of the water. And I got my yearly reminder of what a non-ice-cream-induced brain freeze feels like.
Okay, so back to the barn blog. I have to stay focused on that part of my life. I'm not sure where to begin...I want to give you all a tour of the barn, catch up on what's going on in the veggie gardens, report on May flowers and bugs...yikes! I'm going to pick a short topic since this is already getting to be a long post.
Last weekend I cooked in the barn kitchen for the first time. I'd been sleeping out there for weeks, but since food is more important than sleep (to me), I wanted to save the first meal for a special occasion.
One of the perks of being an adult is that you can have sleepovers whenever you want to. If you have cool friends. Which I do. One of them is named Christa, and she joined me for the inaugural feast of fresh picked asparagus, pasta with goat cheese and kale, and Ruwan's homemade beer! It was delicious and gave us the nutrition we needed to get 2nd and 3rd place in a 5k the next morning. (Out of more than 3 female runners!)
(Note the tall grass...we're on the 3rd mowing!!)
This fine meal was prepared without a glitch in the quaint barn kitchen where I have 2 electric burners, a mini fridge, and a sink. I have small pots and pans out and Christa commented that it is like cooking while camping. Not a bad skill to perfect. I think I am going to enjoy the challenge of cooking without an oven (I've already passed the no-microwave test by living in the house). And maybe I'll start making a lot of smoothies.
The kitchen has an eclectic mix of dish, cook, and silver ware from many other guests. I counted 5 percolators. Unnecessary.
I went through and picked out the stuff that appealed to me (going for white and minimalist) and stuffed the rest of it in a cupboard. I brought in my cookbooks, wine glasses, and trunk of spices, oils, etc. What you see below is the kitchen...although I think I may refer to it as a "galley." Feels more like a galley than a kitchen. Not a demotion...just different. Narrow and basic. I'll be an awesome cook for overnight sailing trips after this summer.
I sanitized it and have yet to see fresh mouse turds on my counter. To be safe, I'm not going to cook wild rice for a bit...
One of the books in my collection that I dusted off has a reference page I think is really neat. The book is "What Einstein Told His Cook." Enjoy!
Recent Comments