Same old, same old

My goal is to write six blogs a week, and to keep them interesting. I'm not sure I can meet that goal today. Brioche in the oven, counter set up for the baguettes in the morning, cinnamon rolls are in fridge for slow rise, they'll be baked in the morning.

One more day of work on the outside of the house, and then they are done. No more projects out there this year.

I've slipped badly with my four feet of gardening every day. Nothing today, and plants sitting on the counter to be planted.

Like I said, same old, same old. Every day can't be exciting. Think I'll watch the news while I'm waiting on the brioche to get done. Yawn . . .

Now my deck will not fall off the side of the house

Hal, who does great work and is finishing up that which was left undone from when I moved here, discovered (why didn't the contractor who did this upgrade find it?) that a load bearing beam that holds up my deck was so punky and rotten that you could stick your finger into it. Not good! This was not a simple job and required shoring up the deck while they took out the old beam and put in a nice new one, with huge bolts to attach it to the house proper.

He has one more day of work, then they will move the tool shed back under the deck. Once he is done, Greg, who did my plumbing and wiring, will be here to install the outside light over my door from the walk-out basement into the yard to the river. (When he went to install the light, the bad beam was discovered.) It will be nice to have a light there. It's a bit creepy at night.

I have lived here almost two years, and all of this stuff - trimming windows, painting foundation, staining deck and keeping said deck from falling off the house - was long overdue. I think I suffered from work overload after leaving the farm, and I just didn't care about anything else once the inside of the house was done and I was comfortable inside. But I have become a woman possessed since deciding it was time to stop my neighbors from tisk-tisking the state of the outside of the house. And I have to admit, I am enjoying it too.

Who would have thought that painting the foundation could make such a difference in the overall appearance of the house? Joe power washed the house last fall, but it needed lots more, like power washing and painting the foundation. Between Greg, Hal and Joe, they are turning this house into a lovely home for me.

I am so happy here. This is my 18th home. Will it be the last? Can't imagine ever leaving this place. It has it all - the river flowing by, a kitchen to die for, a lovely dining room and deck for entertaining, and now street appearance that makes me very proud and my neighbors happy.

Old beam, or what's left of it

Hal found problem first contractor overlooked.

New beam installed and covered. Note painted foundation,

Hal surveying his work

My unusual foundation plantings

I don't get much full sun anywhere on this lot - except for the front of the house once the sun goes around the dogwood tree in my yard, and before it is blocked by my neighbors' hard maple next door. So it is my herb garden, and whatever else I find room for that needs a good bit of sun.

Like rhubarb. Yes, I have rhubarb next to my front door. It provided enough for one rhubarb strawberry pie, which I served at my Dinner on the Deck event a few weeks ago. I also planted tarragon (which died), English thyme, lemon thyme and oregano last year. All but the tarragon flourished.

This year I added a rosemary tree, which one of the contractors stepped on but I think will survive, and six lavender plants. (Contractors got two of those, hoping they will make it as well.) Now that the contractors are done working on the front of the house, I put in the rest of the plants that have been waiting for them to get out of here, starting with zinnias and the summer savory. Last year's dead tarragon plant got replaced with two new ones -- can't have too much tarragon. Or summer savory either. It tastes like oregano with elegance. And it behaves better, too. I edged the whole thing with my favorite easy care flower, bright red impatiens. A friend gave me a HUGE petunia plant, which I have sitting in the middle of the bed because it gets automatically watered every morning, so I don't have to worry about killing it. I plan to have her over for lunch frequently so she can take care of dead-heading it. Maureen, I'll be calling you! Are you ready for another lunch on the deck?

Oh, and I planted some organic potatoes. They make pretty plants and aren't too bad on the table either. Since I rarely eat potatoes (they are loaded with carbs), this 18" row of potatoes will provide a year's supply for me.

These pics are pretty pathetic, but I have to provide you with a baseline, right? They'll only get better from here on. I'll keep you posted.

Oregano is already taking over.  What's new?

Tarragon, rosemary, culinary lavender, lemon thyme and some posies.

Rhubarb really is pretty, isn't it? English thyme at its side.

Summer savory tucked in the corner. One of my favorite herbs.

Mint garden spring 2016

I finally got the mint plants in and hauled in some of the flat rocks that were under the deck before we put in the concrete.  It's looking a little sad - may have to spring for a few more plants this week, but it's a start. Look at the one plant from last year - it's looking pretty good and it was choked by violets. Hopefully the new plants will be robust and spreading next year without all of the violets competing. The flat rocks will prevent their regrowth, and I can move them out as needed to make more room for mint.

Fred is watching over the garden.

All done for now. They will grow . . .

Cruising down the river on a Sunday afternoon . . .

I learned to play that song by ear on the piano when I was only eight years old.  I loved it, in part because I always loved the water whether it was the mighty Illinois river 10 miles from our farm, or the lakes in Wisconsin where we rented housekeeping cottages for our annual vacations. Listen to it here. Somewhere in the piles of old sheet music around here I might find this very piece.  I'm pretty sure I had it once, since the cover looks very familiar to me.

Today, Catherine, Elena and I cruised down the river - well, actually UP the river, to the dam at Capital.  We spent a couple of hours paddling around in our kayaks, saw osprey, Canada geese, a couple of Mallards, and a pair of swans.  When a boater disturbed the swans, they took off and flew almost directly over my head! They are magnificent and very, VERY large! Oh, and we saw a blue heron, well, two actually, but they were not together. We parked along the shore near the osprey nest that city workers built a platform for when they were doing some work that disturbed their old nest (yes, they built a nest on the platform!). We hoped to see the adults feeding the young, but while we saw the mother perched on the edge of the nest, we didn't see more than that.

Finally we let the current take us back to my beach.  Then we had ribs from the grill and decided we are going to do this again very soon.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend, and if you get the chance, cruise down the river!

A new venture in the kitchen

When my cousin Ruth and I were in Paris, we went to a bread baking class.  My baguettes are definitely better since that class. I learned so much! But we didn't just do baguettes. We also did brioche and a couple of other breads.

Yesterday I made brioche dough for the first time. This is all new territory. It was HARD! While I was teaching a class on making baguettes, I remember saying often, "There's nothing to this!  You can do it."  Well, maybe, but I got a taste of how each of my students will feel the first time they make a baguette on their own at home. I am already mentally making my next batch of brioche dough, correcting several mistakes of the novice.

Tonight I rolled out the dough and rolled 2-1/2 sticks of cold butter into it, making layers for a roll called a brioche feuillete.  It is a delightful cross between puff pastry and sweet dough.

I bought rings to put the formed rolls in at Dehillerans in Paris. More about that here. I only had a dozen rings, so with the remaining dough I formed some cinnamon rolls with walnuts and raisins. I'm leaving them in the fridge for a slow rise until morning, when I will be baking them along with six baguettes, all for the farmers market. But the brioche feuillete are in the oven right now. They are so full of butter that they will hold just fine until morning!

Tomorrow morning, the display on the counter at market will be quite nice. Six baguettes, 12 brioche feuilletes, and 12 cinnamon rolls, much more than I usually do. I hope my customers like them. Need to work on sizing. I'm a stickler for weighing things, but I obviously didn't do it with these. They are small, medium and large, not intentionally! Next time . . .

On the cooling rack

Decisions, decisions . . .

I have been a staunch supporter of Purple Porch since its inception and am a stockholder there. I have also supported them by being a producer at their Wednesday evening farmers market.

When I was on the farm, I had plenty of products to offer. There were organic garden produce, greenhouse plants in the spring, fruit, baked goods made with organic ingredients and items from my line of skin care products from Ceres & Co. (click this link to get to my website, or come on down to the South Bend Farmers Market, 1105 Northside Blvd., South Bend, IN.).

Then I sold the farm. No more plants, no more garden produce, no more sour cherries - the list got much shorter. People come to the Wednesday evening market at the Porch mainly for produce, which I no longer had. But I still had a pretty good following for my baked goods. Adding my line of soaked and dried nuts as well as my Trail Mix, all organic ingredients, made it worth my while to show up most weeks, and I like the community of the producers and customers.

As I wrote recently in this blog Passionate Phoenix can feel it coming on. I am ready to make some changes in my life. For me, anyway, change is the spice of life. But if something new is coming, then I acknowledge that something else has to go. I want time to hit the river in my kayak, throw a line in the water, tend my gardens. No more 12 hour days!

Last night was my last night to bring product to Purple Porch. It was the "something" that had to go. I have mixed emotions about it. I reminded my customers that I am still at the Farmers Market, at least for the time being, and they can always call for special orders.

Au revoir, Purple Porch. I will still be there for your excellent salad and soup bar. I'll stop by on Wednesday evenings to shop, but I won't be behind a table selling my wares anymore. It is bittersweet, but while I am floating on the river from the dam back home, it is a decision I will not be regretting.

Where I want to be

Sharing with the goslings