Being domestic

I have had a very sunshine-and-food-oriented weekend, and my soul feels refreshed. Saturday we threw open all the windows and let the 70-degree weather into the house to sweep out all the cobwebs, both physical and metaphysical. We spent the morning finishing the renovation of our master bedroom (painted the beadboard, hung the ceiling fan, and Patrick nailed down the squeaky floorboards while I painted the window trim and crown molding).

In the afternoon, Patrick moved the bedroom furniture back in while I started digging up the little plot where we will have our vegetable garden. Our kind neighbors offered us a large area behind their barn, where a horse paddock had been years before. The ground there is in excellent shape - especially as compared to our own sad soil - and I was eager to get started. I spent most of the afternoon toiling away in the sunshine, digging up turf and beginning the process of shaking out and removing the clumps of sod I'd upturned. Then yesterday, Patrick and I finished the job together, removing the rest of the clumps and raking the stones out of our new little garden. It's quite small - maybe 10x10, but it's a start, and I'm very excited about it. The neighbors welcomed us to use the old manure pile (also many years fallow) as we like, so the next step is to spread some of that composted goodness on the plot, and the planting can begin! I'd like to put in green peppers, onions, garlic, spinach, tomatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, and strawberries, but I have a feeling that would be awfully ambitious of me, given the small space. Being an eternal optimist, though, I'll give it a go and learn what the space can take.

Also on Sunday, I baked up a storm. The advent of a new season always makes me want to bake. It's springtime - time to bake! It's summer - time to bake! It's autumn - time to bake! Et cetera, et cetera. Yesterday I started with a non-baked good through: my nan's Thai Cucumber Salad. Damn, that's good stuff! It's essentially cucumbers, onions, vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, and salt, but the way it's put together is heavenly - I can't get enough of the stuff.

Also made yesterday: brownies (from a box, because that's what Patrick loves, and I have to say, they're darned tasty, despite my philosophical objections to boxed mixes) and herb bread (also from a box, which makes me a big fat hypocrite in light of the aforementioned professed aversion to boxed mixes, but this was an organic Hodgson Mill mix that was about to expire, so I don't feel so bad).

From scratch, I made applesauce, and then an applesauce cake, recipe courtesy of The Joy of Cooking, my go-to cookbook. From that same book, at Patrick's request, I made chocolate-chip cookies, and because I had no vanilla extract available, I used almond extract instead. It was a very happy substitution - oh boy, those cookies are tasty!

So cucumber salad, brownies, herb bread, applesauce cake, and chocolate-chip cookies, all in about 4 hours. Not too shabby. I was also going to make an almond cake from the current issue of Vegetarian Times - it's made in a Bundt pan, and served with macerated strawberries piled into the hole in the center! - but I thought that might be overkill. I have no idea how we're going to eat all the stuff I've already made, so I'll save the almond cake for some other time.

While I was in the kitchen, I also roasted vegetables for today's lunch - a mix of onions, portabello mushrooms, zucchini, summer squash, grape tomatoes, and red, orange, and yellow bell peppers. Friends Erin and Jill are coming over for lunch in a few hours, and I thought a nice, easy, tasty meal would be homemade pizzas, one with provalone and roasted veggies, and the other with fresh mozzarella, sausage, and pepperoni (Patrick is a big fan of meat). Both will feature a pesto-tomato sauce concoction that the hubby and I have decided is our favorite, and I'll serve them with the cucumber salad and a fresh spinach salad (with pears, feta, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, and red-wine vinaigrette). Have I mentioned that I like to feed people? Either my friends will think I'm crazy, or they'll never leave. :)