May 14, 2023- we have dirt

The big garden news is that the City finally has compost. Some machine had been broken at the landfill, depriving me of inexpensive dirt. How inexpensive? Scott (my new helpper) went and got 5 big totes full in his jeep yesterday. The cost was $4. I celebrated by dividing a large clump of hosta named June. We got 12 plants, some of which will get to travel to friendly destinations. 

The plant news was the showy but brief appearance of the white tree peonies. They all came out after the big rain on Sunday night. They bloomed so remarkably, and then in 2-3 days, they were done.

The tree peonies are one of those marks on the garden calendar that allows you to compare the season to previous ones. I will try to do that this coming week.

As the Tree Peonies faded, the lupine stepped up. They promise to be a main attraction for the next two weeks. I do not know if we have ever had this kind of lupine show. My task for today will be to get the last dandelions out from amoung the lupines.

Here is the favorite picture from the week of April 30. 

This week's best pictures

#1 Pink tulip group

#2 Tiny but wonderful-iris cristata

This is a wildflower called cristata. It grows along the surface creating a mat of these pretty flowers.

#3 White tree peony

#4 Cypripedium Gisell

I have started a second group of Gisells. They were identified as being about the easiest cyp to grow.

#5 Pink Lupine

Other pictures

This is an English bluebell. It is one of the last spring bulbs to bloom.

Julia's recipe

Shrimp and gnocchi-another scampi recipe 

I like shrimp-for-supper recipes. If you have frozen shelled and deveined shrimp on hand, you can have supper on the table in pretty short order. This recipe is from the NYT, another variation on shrimp scampi. I added broccoli to the shrimp and gnocchi base, making it a one skillet supper. 

The ingredients:

12 oz. cleaned, deveined shrimp - thawed;

12 oz. shelf stable gnocchi;

2 cups broccoli florets;

1 tablespoon smushed garlic;

1/2 cup white wine (or stock or clam juice or water);

4 tablespoons olive oil;

2 tablespoons butter;

2 or so teaspoons lemon zest;

2 or so tablespoons lemon juice;

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (to taste);

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes;

1/4 tespoon black pepper (to taste); and green things for garnish if on hand.

I started by prepping the broccoli - washing and cutting into little pieces. If you like, you can peel the stems and slice them into thin rounds or matchsticks. I peel the stems and eat them raw.

The NYT did not call for vegetables. I think broccoli was a good addition. If you prefer, you could use sliced asparagus instead or a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach. Using spinach would require an adjustment to the recipe which I will get to below. 

When the broccoli was ready, I put a non-stick skillet on the stove, added 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and let the oil warm up. Just warm over medium heat - no shimmering. 

When the oil was warm, I added the gnocchi and broccoli. I cooked these things over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, to toast the gnocchi and cook the broccoli sort of al dente. 

 

While the gnocchi/broccoli were cooking, I smushed the garlic. 

I also drained the thawed shrimp and patted them dry - not obsessively, but gently.

After 10 or 12 minutes, the gnocchi were toasty and the broccoli part way cooked. I dumped the gnocchi onto a plate to await further developments. 

I added the rest of the olive oil (1 tablespoon) and the butter (2 tablespoons) to the skillet over medium to medium-high heat. When the butter was melted, I added the garlic. When I could smell it, I added the salt and black pepper and red pepper flakes and the wine. 

All of this is not shown.

I let that mixture simmer until it was reduced by about 1/2. Then I added the shrimp, in a single layer. My shrimp do not turn pink. They do however get opaque, which takes maybe 2 minutes.

After 2 minutes, I dumped the gnocchi and broccoli back into the skillet with the shrimp and sauce. I added a bit more salt and pepper, after tasting the sauce.

I stirred everything together. 

Then I grated the lemon directly over the skillet. I think I ended up with about 2 teaspoons, but who can be sure? 

More grating. I turned off the heat and juiced the lemon. I added 2 tablespoons of the juice to the pan.

Below: in a nice serving dish with some chopped parsley on top. It was garlicky and lemony and shrimpy. The gnocchi made a nice base and the broccoli added some green and some texture. 

I think that asparagus could be handled the same as broccoli. I think spinach would be added at the end, probably just before the lemon zest. 

Odds and ends

Last Sunday we had a weather event. There was wind at our house. Across town there was hail. We then had over 1.5 inches of rain later that evening. After the wind and hail there was that special light, which must have some scientific explanation. And there were the boob clouds. Really. 

Here is the wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_cloud

That article was the first time I had ever heard clouds refered to as being a genus or species cloud. Really?

We planted another 25 Shirly poppy plants yesterday, grown from seed. The 4 plants that are suppose to be gray flowers have set buds. Maybe this week they will bloom. 

In the category of what is next, the martagon lilies are getting ready.

So are the first Siberian iris. 

I saw my first TV ads for Republican presidential candidates. It it scary that they even think they have a chance. In the competition between red states Oklahoma won this past week. The Governor there vetoed funds for public television, because of Sesame Street.

Oh my. I can only anticipate Iowa trying to top that.

Pray for peace and reconciliation. 

Philip