But it was a clear day, and Portland was lovely as we flew in over all those islands.
We enjoyed a sunny day with Christopher and family. He has mastered a scooter. He can somehow manage to navigate brick sidewalks and downhills with a speed that causes this grandparent to be at the same time concerned and impressed.
We left this center piece on the dining room table.
It looks like this might be a good winter for orchids,
The little new air plant also started to live up to its expectations.
Here is a little cattleya. Keeping them outside from May to early October is just right at times.
This conical sansevieria is going to be a new favorite.
It is still small.
Most all plants get bigger.
Let me show it to you again in a year.
These were the last of that blooming yellow orchid, at 4 am yesterday morning. It will be finished when we get back.
Did I mention there is no snow here in Maine, yet. I have not asked about how much is expected on Tuesday.
Katie is interested in planting bulbs while we are here. She does have a reliable bulb drill.
Julia's recipe
Out of season Green Beans
We like green beans (and yellow wax beans too), and we eat green beans often during the farmer's market season. But alas, the farmer's market ends and winter descends or this year rushes in and takes over. Then one is left with green beans that have traveled a long way (and gotten tougher through the journey) or frozen. This is a green bean recipe for the winter, from Greene on Greens a vegetable cookbook from the 1980s, tweaked a bit.
Here are the ingredients: 1 lb. of frozen green beans (I used French cut, regular cross cut are also fine); 1/3 cup or so of chopped onion; 1 cup drained diced canned tomatoes; 2 tablespoons of butter; 1 teaspoon bouillon (I used chicken, beef would be fine or vegetarian); 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
I started by cooking the green beans as per package instructions. French cut cook faster than cross-cut. Maybe 3-4 minutes after the pot came to a boil.
I chopped the onion, melted the butter in a big skillet and added the onions. I cooked the onion for about 5 minutes, then added the bouillon, smushing it (my bouillon is not powder but kind of a paste). After the bouillon had been distributed, I added the tomatoes.
After I added the tomatoes, I added the salt and pepper.
Lastly I drained the green beans and added them, then let the mixtures simmer for about 5 minutes until everything was well mixed and heated through.
Here is the heating through and mixing together stage.
And here it is on the table - it serves about 4 people. We served it with pasta pesto, a simple but flavorful dish with chunks of roasted chicken breast, bow-tie pasta and pesto. It's another easy recipe, which is somewhere on this blog.
Winter is upon us, and we are not ready for it, but we can continue to enjoy green beans, with just a little special attention, all through the winter until the farmer's market returns.
Odds and Ends
The inside season at the Mears Garden has begun in earnest.We put our car in the garage this last week, a testimony to my job at finding places for stray plants.
Actually it was also a testament to my rather brutal pruning of some of the plants.
If an orchid cactus has become lopsided one solution is to just even it up with some plant clippers.
After potting up cuttings in 4-5 pots I just composted the rest of the cuttings.
It is also the dreaded leaf drop time for the crotons.
They looked so good when they first came in.
After several weeks of being inside they have started to lose maybe 1/3 of their leaves, on the bigger leaf plants.
I can get upset, but what good would that do.
I know from experience that they will recover.
That's it from sunny Maine.
Philip
1 comment:
I love that conical sansevieria. Some plants just look like they were invented by Dr. Seuss.
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