More food photos

I promise this isn't turning into a food blog, but pandemic times make us more navel-gazey, so here we are. Plus, I try to cook with a variety of colors and textures, and that makes my meals visually interesting, if I do say so myself. Here is what I call the "Martin Yan phase" of cooking. It's when all of the prepwork is done, and you say, "I can make dinner in five minutes!"

See? Shrimp chow mein in five minutes!

I got 18 quarts of blueberries this year. It has been a stupendous season! So here is a blueberry-rhubarb pie:

Mmmmm, pie!

I also made blueberry biscotti:

I had prepped dinner before starting the biscotti, so I could minimize the time that the oven was on (as soon as the biscotti was out, dinner went in). So I had chicken brining and veggies chopped and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with chopped garlic for roasting. As I made the biscotti, the detritus around me gave me great visual pleasure. Look! The lemons, the herbs, the garlic, the wine, the waiting chicken... It all speaks to my many simple blessings--good food, good kitchen skills, a productive little garden, and a great local CSA. I feel blessed indeed.

Here are the veggies. In addition to the garlic and olive oil, they got dressed with thyme, fresh coriander seeds (thanks to those lovely bees and hoverflies I have spent the past two months admiring), and fancy coarse salt:

It came out... well, okay. Ya know, I just prefer broccoli and green leafy veggies, but the CSA gave us beets and cauliflower, so... Well, it's good for both DL and me to eat a variety, and I think that that is another benefit of the CSA. It forces you to eat things that aren't your favorites, so you get those extra nutrients!

My faithful sous chefs like cauliflower and beets just fine!

The chicken came out just fine!

The feel of Fall is in the air

We began to get darkness at night about a week ago, and last night, the sky was glittering with stars. It is still raining frequently, but when the sun comes out, it is long, slanting, golden. This morning, it was positively breathtaking, with the glowing light illuminating the colors of the morning--the green trees slightly dulling, the blue sky, the red tones in the dogs' fur.

Just a few evenings ago was our most recent rainbow:

The ground plants are turning already:

I made a big pot of minestrone, with CSA veggies, tortellini, and mayocoba beans. The first night we had it with grilled turkey sandwiches:

The second night, I made a focaccia. I had some extra thyme!

A fine thyme was had by all (I even had fancy coarse pink salt):

Oooh, we fancy!

Here is a gratuitous photo of Cricket with her octopus:

Also, since cooler weather is coming, I dug out my winter safety glasses. They do not fog up! They are also an excellent reminder to use safety glasses that are intended to protect you in the situation you are in. Thus: Those that shield you from chemicals may not provide mechanical protection, and vice versa; and these, obviously, will provide NO coronavirus protection whatsoever!

Also, do you like my coronavirus-pantsal-decontamination station? It uses solar power!

Good Eats

OK before we get to the food photos, here is a photo of Thistle pondering the Meaning of It All:

And one of Cricket using a pillow oddly:

Since it’s been a pretty cool summer, I’ve been able to turn on the oven with some regularity. Here is a quick way to make a chicken pot pie: Use instant biscuits from a can as a top crust:

Mmm:

Miss Thistle is my faithful kitchen supervisor:

I also decided to take advantage of a free afternoon to attempt to make puff pastry. What to do with it… How about some rhubarb filling?

They came out good!

And perfectly puffy:

My faithful kitchen supervisor was at her post the whole time, of course!

More Macro Shots

Working from home and refraining from travel has made my world very Small, but sometimes the Small Things are the Truest Things. I have always loved living in the Tanana Valley, the region between two big mountain ranges, due to its comforting, sheltered feeling. We do not have any of the spectacular things that are shown in tourist brochures of Alaska--no towering mountains, no glaciers, no otters, no orcas, very few bears. We just have gentle landscapes, peaceful quiet, and golden light. We have deep cold, it is true. But the cold is still, quiet, hushed. There is very little violence from either the weather or animals. Being at home only amplifies the Little Things. Like this little yellow songbird. How beautiful he is. Why did he just up and die in my yard? I can't say.

I buried him behind my garden and placed a heart-shaped rock over him.

And more of these tiny purple blossoms appeared in the yard. I even saw hoverflies and tiny wasps on them. See, everything contributes something, no matter how small.

My cilantro has bolted, but the flowers are attracting honeybees and hoverflies!

Honeybees are not naturally occurring in Alaska, but several of my neighbors keep bees. Aren't they a lovely sight?

So pretty! I think I will let some cilantro bolt every year from now on.

Everything looks glowy in the slanting light between storms, even this grass:

And of course the fireweed:

And these rose leaves:

The dogs seem comfy. Do you think they are comfy? I sure hope they are comfy.

 

Bumblebee drama

Today, a cloudburst and quick thunderstorm came and went in the middle of an otherwise sunny day. After it was over, I went out to photograph the wet fireweed in the stormy light:

The rain caught this bumblebee in the fireweed. She crawled to the underside of a blossom to ride it out, but it wasn't really great protection, so after it was over, she was soaking wet and unable to fly:

But Mother Nature trained her daughter. As soon as the sun came she oriented herself so that her back was at 90 degrees to the sun:

As she warmed up and regained agility, she went to the middle of several blossoms and collected some nectar as a snack:

She was still very exhausted and had to take frequent pauses:

She took several breaks to sit on horizontal surfaces and wipe herself down with her... arms? Front legs? Whatever you call them on a bee:

At this point, it was warm and dry, and the other insects had returned, including several types of bees and hoverflies. They all fed from adjacent blossoms and seemed to have no rivalry.  

 

Except for those horrible white-faced hornets! One came by and seemed to attack her, twice! But it didn't seem to faze her as she continued warming up. Finally, her fuzz got fluffy again, and she lifted up and took off into the sunshine. :)

 

Wow a Shiny Yellow Ball in the Sky

It's been an unusually cool and rainy summer, but I'm not complaining. Last summer was very hot and had lots of smoke from local fires, so this is much more pleasant. Also, I feel like it's been at least interspersed with a bit of sun, so not quite like Ketchikan. Anyway, this afternoon, the sun came out for the first time in several days, and it's actually warm and sunny outside.

"At the end of the storm, there's a golden sky, and the sweet silver song of a lark..."

I hurried up and transferred the laundry from the clothesline on the porch to the clothesline in the sun.

Then I propped the screen door open.

When I plopped back down at my home office desk (the dining room table), I couldn't help but feel grateful to live here.

DL says a lot of people save for a whole year to spend a week or two like we spend our whole lives. If we have to be stuck at home, I'm grateful that my home is here, where we are surrounded by woods and nature, even alongside our own driveway.