April 6, 2024- and it feels like April

We closed the week with some sunny skies, as most of Iowa held its breath while Catlin Clark worked her magic. I actually watched the end of the game Friday with Connecticut. I also did laundry.

But I got a good 4 hours in the garden yesterday, which was pleasant. I was tired at the end of the day, but a good tired. We had over two inches of rain earlier in the week, putting us ahead of noral, for the year.

It is not too cold or too hot.

Frost has disappeared from the forecast for the moment. Some indoor plants got to go outside and  enjoy some shade. (A lot of sun is to be avoided or they will sunburn.) Some of the little jade plants saw their first sky in 5 months. 

Here is some of the backyard yesterday.

It was a far cry from Maine, where the children keep getting an opportunity to make snowmen.

We have some new neighbors.

There is a hole in one of the branches of the white crabs. I noticed a bird going into that hole while I was outside yesterday. Later I saw the couple. I am not sure who they are. The are not wrens. If they were wrens they would have been scolding me for even being close to their nest.

I got this grainy picture of the two of them.

The best pictures of the week

The little tiny trillium we got from Joe Pye Weed Gardens have started to bloom. You can get an idea of the size as the little scilla is in the picture.

For whatever reason the African violets are producing more flowers than ever.

So far several tulips have opened. Some tulips just come back every year. I have no clumps like that. Just the occasional burst of color.

Some of the more colorful daffodils are blooming.

The windlflowers are really nice when the sun comes out. I do think I should get a few hundred more of these colors to scatter around the garden.

This one looks a lot like a bloodroot.

A walk in the woods

We went to Ryerson Woods yesterday. More flowers were out than they had been 3 weeks ago. We should go back in another two weeks.

I think this one is called spring beauty.

The May apples were just emerging.

Dutchman's breeches were all over the place, even though they were not yet in full bloom.

There was the occasional bloodroot.

We saw one little rue anemone.

Fallen trees and particularly stumps were good.

Julia's recipe

Chicken and green things

I liked the idea of this NYT recipe - baked chicken with kale and scallions and herbs, among other things. Although I used the ingredients suggested by the NYT, I used a different method. I find that some let's-make-dinner-in-a-hurry recipes don't cook the chicken long enough. I like chicken thoroughly cooked, and some recipes seem to intend to produce what I would call "al dente chicken." So I changed the method to permit the chicken to cook thoroughly.  

The ingredients:

4 chicken thighs (mine had both skin and bone) - look at the next picture down for the chicken;

1 bunch lacinato kale;

1 bunch scallions (about 3/4 cup);

some herbs about 3/4 cup (I had basil and thyme);

1-1/2 tablespoons sliced garlic;

1 teaspoon kosher salt;

1 teaspoon ground coriander;

1 cup chicken stock;

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes;

2 tablespons olive oil;

1 lemon; and

2 tablespoons capers. 

Here are the chicken thighs. I started by turning the oven on to 400 degrees.

I put a bit of olive oil in a big skillet; sprinkled a bit of salt on the chicken and put the chicken, skin-side-up in the skillet. Then I put the skillet in the oven for about 40 minutes. Part of that time the oven was heating up.

This picture is at the end of that time in the oven.  

Next, I cleaned and sliced the garlic and sliced the scallions.

I took the chicken out of the skillet and added the garlic, scallions, a bit of salt, the red pepper flakes and the coriander.

I think I may have added a little more oil, but mostly I relied on the chicken fat that had been rendered as the chicken baked. 

I added a spoonful of chicken better-than-bouillon, as I did not have any chicken stock on hand. 

When you are using bouillon paste, it is a good idea to stir it into the stuff in the pan. 

I cooked this for maybe 3 or 4 minutes over medium heat. 

I added a cup of water and stirred a little more. 

While the stuff cooked, I prepared the kale. Sometimes I fold the leaves in half and cut the rib/stem out, a good approach with big kale leaves. This time, I pulled the leafy parts off with my fingers. 

I sliced the kale into ribbons. And I stripped the thyme leaves off the stems and tore the basil into pieces, discarding the basil stems. 

Then I added the kale to the skillet and let it wilt, which did not take very long. 

And I added the chicken pieces to the skillet and put the skillet back into the oven for another 20 minutes.

While the chicken and kale and other stuff were baking, I zested and juiced the lemon. 

Assembly time. I took the skillet out of the oven (with a skillet shaped potholder, which I left on the skillet so I wouldn't forget it was hot and burn myself). 

I put the chicken on a nice serving piece. 

Then I added the lemon zest and about 1/2 of the lemon juice and the capers and the herbs to the greens in the skillet. 

I stirred it up a bit and then spooned the greens all around the chicken pieces. 

Philip forgot to take a picture of the whole platter of chicken and greens. Here's what was left after we served ourselves. 

We serve the chicken on a dollop of rice to sop up the sauce. And salad and berries. 

I think the dish is best with thighs with skin. In my world, thighs with skin also have bones. If you use skinless, boneless thighs or skinless, boneless chicken breast (2 breasts, each cut in half), cooking time will be shortened. Check for doness with a meat thermometer.   

Odds and ends

Something is nibbling on some of my lupines. Deer? They had left the lupine alone so I am not sure. Rabbits? I have not seen them but maybe.

With their snow, Maine does not even have daffodils. When we went for Christopher's baptism 7 years ago, there were daffodils...in June.

What they do have in Maine is the path of the total solar eclipse on Monday. It is two hours from Portland but they all are going. The are suppose to have sunny skies. I have told them to take pictures.

The garden plot opens in 9 days. 

I have a large order of caladium coming this week. They will not go in the garden plot. Caladium will not germinate until the soil temperature gets to 70. That would be June some years. They will need to find someplace inside for at least a month. There will be a lot of potting work.

It is a good year for tree peony seedlings . I must have 15-20 new ones this spring. Some are coming up all in a row. When you plant 100 seeds I confess to having planted some just in a row.

I will see how they pot up.

In the sale for the food banks we passed the $1000 mark for the spring. A good part of that was from selling  the donated bloodroot from Jan and Marty at Joe Pye Weed Garden. Take a peek at their webcite. Some of their iris are amazing.

https://www.jpwflowers.com/

The world is still out there. I can be diverted by time in the garden. The women's basketball team provides additional distraction.

At some point I do look at the news. It is not pretty. I got a robo poll call the other day from Rasmussen. I know they are rather bad, in more ways than one. I decided to take a few minutes to perhaps make their numbers better. After a few expected questions, they got to the bad questions. Those included "How did I feel about illegal immigrants committing crimes." I hung up.

Then there are the Republicans in Congress. How can they not support the Ukraine?

Pray for Peace and reconciliation. Pray for a better world for our grandchildren. Pray for the people of Gaza.

Find something to do to make it a little better.

Philip