October 25, 2020- Almost the darkest time

It seems like it is about the darkest time of the year. I suppose there are many ways that could be true. But I am talking about waking up and it being dark. While we will lose daylight for another 7 weeks, next Sunday I am told, we will get another hour given back to us. It will be all given in the morning. At least until we leave work in the dark I will like that extra daylight in the morning,

When I write this yesterday morning, sunrise was scheduled for 7:29. That is not too far from where it will be on the shortest day around December 21. On top of everything else it has been cloudy which means it is very dark.

We had a nipping frost midweek. That meant the flowers on the impatiens were nipped but not the plants. In the back yard the sycamore tree still has its leaves, protecting some of the annuals. The zinnias, which will be gone with a frost, are still mostly fine.

We are flirting with another frost almost every night. But tomorrow night (Monday night), it is supposed to get down to 21. I  appreciate the certainty of that forecast. I do not have to think about whether plants would be damaged. In making last-minute decisions there will be no second chances. Today will be it for cutting flowers or perhaps digging up some plants.

I planted a bunch of fall crocuses in mid September. They are supposed to come up right after you plant them. It would have been better to have planted them a little earlier. Many are just now coming up. If they can make it past the 21 degrees, next weekend promises to be sunny with temperatures in the 50's.

The sun did come out a few days ago, allowing this picture. I love the background you can get with all the leaves on the ground. Plus a little gazing ball.

The plant migration is at the final stage. Actually the plants are either in the house or in the garage. Now the task it is to get them all into the house. The car wants to go into the garage.

But yesterday was dedicated to planting winter aconite. 

Remember all those wonderful yellow flowers in the very early Spring? One smart wholesale catalog arrived right in the middle of Spring bulbs season. I have a lot of these flowers in the back yard. They have a presence in one bed in the front yard. We read a book by Beverley Nichols. He wrote garden books in England around 1920. He really liked winter aconite. He wrote that you should plant them by the thousands.

So I bought a....thousand. They arrived about 3 weeks ago. How do you plant a thousand anything? Maybe grass seeds are doable.

The first thing I did was send 100 to Katie. They came in nice packages of 100 each. 

I then determined that there did not seem to be a right side up. This was a big discovery. It meant I could just dig a quick hole and let the little bulb fall right in.

I then decided that I could reduce my work considerably if I put 2 bulbs in one hole.

I had planted 50 of them as a trial a week ago.

Yesterday I planted all 850 of the ones left. It actually only took me about 2 hours in about 4 shifts. It is a good thing that my knees are in decent shape. That is not to say that I am not a little wobbly on my feet at the moment.

All that planting did get me outside yesterday to enjoy what was left of the garden.

Let me share.

The toad lilies are still a bright spot, despite the fact that some were deer food about a week ago.

Here you can see one of the larger clumps.

This is a different shaped flower. It is almost daisy like with long narrow petals.

That is in contrast with most of the rest of them.

Some foliage is almost yellow.

Zinnias are good. Next year I would like to have more. They are appreciated even more as many plants are about at their end.

The recently acquired yellow coneflower continues to impress. I suppose on Monday night I could cover it and see if that kept it going a little longer.

This is a straw flower. As a cut flower it will last all winter as long as you do not put it in water. 

The Japanese anemones continue.

More anemones.

I am counting on pansies to brighten the garden in November. If you notice, there are a couple of fall crocuses just coming up in the picture. Maybe next weekend.

This is cimicifuga. It blooms rather late. It does attract the bees when the sun comes out.

Julia's recipe

Eggplant and sausage and cherry tomatoes with rigatoni

I am fond of eggplant, and I know I have posted a number of eggplant recipes. Here is another eggplant dish, this one a variation on spaghetti and meat sauce, without the sauce and with eggplant, without spaghetti and with rigatoni. Just like. It comes from Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons cookbook, which I have talked about before. His recipes are vegetable-centered and tasty and different. Vegetables are not a side dish, but part of the centerpiece dish. 

Here are the ingredients: 1 eggplant which when peeled and cut up should yield about 4 cups of pieces, about which more below; 2 cups little tomatoes (cherry, grape); 1/2 lb. of hot or sweet Italian sausage (I had 2 links of hot, because that's how mine were sold); 2 tablespoons of olive oil; about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons of smushed garlic; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 1/2 lb. rigatoni; 1/2 cup of parmesan (fancy or not fancy, but preferably not the powder in the green can); 1/2 cup cubed-up ricotta salata cheese (which I now view as optional) plus some kosher salt and black pepper.

The first thing I did was peel the eggplant. Then I sliced it across into about 1/2" rounds, and then I sliced the rounds into 1/2" sticks. Sort of like potato strips to make thick fries. I put the strips in a colander set over a rimmed pan and mixed in about 1 teaspoon of the kosher salt. I put a little plate on top of the strips and then put a weight (a canister of sugar) on top of the plate - to cause the eggplant to drain off some of its liquid. 

Next, I removed the casing from the two sausages and cut the raw pork into little chunk/slices. Casing removal is a matter of making a shallow slice down the length of the sausage and then peeling the casing off. I then smushed the garlic. I put the olive oil in a big skillet and added the garlic. I cooked it for 1 minute or two on medium high heat, then added the sausage pieces. I turned down the heat to medium and let the sausage cook, stirring once in a while until the sausage was browned all over.  

Next I de-stemmed the tomatoes and washed them. The tomatoes had come from our garden plot so they needed some washing. 

After 20 minutes or so, the eggplant has softened and started to exude some liquid. I took the eggplant out of the colander one handful at a time and squeezed it, as shown. The eggplant juice went into the rimmed pan. I set the squeezed-out eggplant pieces on a plate. 

Next, I took the sausage out of the skillet and put it on a plate. I didn't worry about the garlic. I added 2 tablespoons of olive oil, turned the heat up to medium-high and added the eggplant.

I also put a pot of water on the stove (with about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt) for the rigatoni. 

I cooked the eggplant strips (shown and looking unlike eggplant), until the strips were kind of tannish and pretty soft. 

Next, I turned the heat down to medium and added the tomatoes. I cut the bigger ones in half length-wise. I also added the oregano and the red pepper flakes, and things began to smell pretty good.

I let the mixture cook for 5 minutes or so, at which point the tomatoes had started to soften up. If they are not kind of smushy after 5 minutes, keep cooking for a few more minutes. 

 

Then I added the sausage back to the skillet and let the whole thing simmer for a few minutes while I waited for the rigatoni to get done. I did not cook the rigatoni for the whole period of time called for on the box, but rather dipped out about 1/2 cup of the cooking water and then drained the pot about 2 minutes shy of the cooking time. Not quite all the way done. 

After I drained the rigatoni, I added it to the skillet as well. I think I added a bit of the pasta cooking liquid too. Maybe 1/4 cup. The idea is that the pasta finishes cooking in the sauce and thereby absorbs some of the flavors. Seems to me that this is actually what happens. 

Adding a bit of the pasta-cooking water ensures there is enough liquid in the pan to finish the cooking. And the pasta-cooking water is starchy so it helps thicken the sauce. 

Here it is on this nice serving piece I got from my sister-in-law Lynn. The little cubes are ricotta salata, which is a kind of firm and salty cheese. It was referred to in the recipe as "crumbled." It did not crumble. So I cut it into tiny cubes. I did not think it was worth the effort to track it down in commerce and then cube it. I think sprinkling the same amount (1/2 cup) of parmesan would be just fine, plus having another 1/2 cup of parmesan for sprinkling by the diners. 

We had this with green beans vinaigrette, a favorite summer salad, and melon. Leftovers were, of course, good.

Odds and Ends

The trees are really nice at the moment on College Street. It helps when the sun comes out.

Here is the sidewalk bed, where there are now 900 new winter aconite bulbs.

Now that the aconite are planted I can think about the other bulbs that so far are unopened. I think they will be for next weekend.

So now we wait. 9 more days. Maybe the nightmare will be over.

Stay safe and vote. Make sure that everyone you know votes. The future depends on it.

Philip