Saturday busy-ness

I felt busy yesterday, of this business that makes you feel good. Busy in the action of doing these little things that you had on your list for days, couldn’t achieve them by laziness, lack of time, lack of tools, or any other excuses that makes you having them, again, on your mental list…

So here it went, among others, some things that made my day.

Cooking was the first thing I did. I had a few bananas that were turning more than black in the fridge, a kilogram of organic mandarins that were probably the last of the seasons and were not as tasty as they should have been, and I had to really do something with the few rams of rhubarb picked in the field in front of my house last week … on top of other fresh greens to discover such as garlic scapes…

But because the cooking had to take time, I made me confortable: music maestro! Solo Tango Orchestra and Sexteto Milongero were the first catch, soon followed by a playlist with random Nuevo Tango songs … dancing in the kitchen, that’s kind of a “normal thing” nowadays, isn’t it?

And because the cooking took time, long waiting time, and because the music was going louder, the waiting moments turned kind of naturally into a workout: arms, legs, core, aouch! I woke up with sores today!

During the day I also worked a couple of hours, removed the dead flowers from the gardeners, turned the compost in the big bin, cut a rebel pine tree growing in a wrong spot, changed a fluorescent light in the closet…

And here is the good thing, I didn’t realize I did so much – music was most probably the strongest motivation, the good song at the right moment. If only we could get that little trigger more often!

Among the recipes: Garlic scapes Chinese style in the Wok with carrots, onions, garlic, ground ginger, chili powder, light soy sauce, pepper; Rhubarb Chutney with red onions, dried berry mix, chili powder, ground paprika, salt and pepper, and pure Maine (!) maple syrup;… excellent! Mandarin jam with a juice of lemon, mandarins and sugar, no gelatin.

Surrealism

It’s been 3 weeks that fog is part of the landscape. If it is sometimes a good excuse to stay cosy in the bed in the morning, the temperature is rather warm and I am enjoying walking around: I feel sometimes in a complete surrealist world, surrounded by the invisible and my own imagination. This is true even more on the sea side than in the mountains. This world is either scary, hiding unknown beings from the outside, Loch Ness -like sea creatures, or enchanted fairies dancing on the water…

This is in this world that I did my first swim, early in the morning as Mainers do, and equiped with a safety gear and a buddy to keep an eye on my trajectory. The water was warm, and to my surprise far from having to shout outloud when entering in it!

Swimmers are advised to wear a swim buoy, and I choose one combined with a bag, where you could potentially put your car keys or a flash light. Attached to your waist, this buoy assures you to be seen ahead from the boats. In my case, the buoy of my friend was my tracking point to follow in the fog, as was mine for my friend to be sure I was following!

We didn’t encounter loons, but it seems that they are often swimming with you early in the morning! I’ll definitely try to alternate running, hiking, swimming, at least as often as I can find a buddy to come with me….

In the garden

Guess what I found in the garden?

Guess who will be fighting to be the first to pick those?

Guess who might be disappointed because the wild world knows better the garden than me for sure….

I might have to prepare the war against the deers and squirrels and place a net on them… shall I? Mmmh! Maybe! I am already salivating for the blueberry tart!

Foggy Fourth

It was the 4th July few days ago.

They say it is a big day in the US!

I don’t know if it was fortunate or unfortunate, but the current situation made this day rather normal for me – COVID19, remote working, no friends or family around with whom celebrate, no parade allowed this year, BLM and the meaning of the 4th of July around it, and a quite bad weather for the occasion…. So I didn’t really celebrate, although I could have watched fireworks from home, if only I would have gone outside and walked a little bit to be able to reach the behind-the-tree-view.

But it was chilly and foggy. And this was the case the entire weekend… actually it has been more than a week that the weather is not really nice. I can’t really complain because it might be the first time that this happens since I arrived mid-September…. but it was foggy.

The good thing? Surrealistic views when I hiked, cosy atmosphere coming back home and eating a soup…. but…. when is the summer coming?

Tops

Even though I have a superb compost bin (see my homemade one in my post « Composting»), I try my best to use and eat all what is eatable, and throw a minimum, leaving only what I really can’t eat. And most of the time this makes me discover little delicatessen…

Do you remember the super soup with radish tops (see my post « Experiments (2) ») ? Well, I have been eating quite a lot of radish lately, so I am the Chef of the radish tops soup now, preparing enough to be able to keep some in the freezer for the cold evenings to come. But I also ate carrots, and recently, beetroots. As I am buying them directly from the farm, the veggies are super fresh and the tops are never removed. I have thus been trying new dishes, here are my latest discoveries:

  • Fresh beet roots (that I forgot to pictured), boiled in water and prepared in salad once cold, together with shallots, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, coriander, red wine vinegar and olive oil.
  • Beetroots tops, pan fried with shallots, salt and pepper, and mixed with pre-prepared chickpeas;
  • Carrots tops, pan fried with garlic, fresh green onions, salt, pepper and a beaten egg, the overall as a kind of omelet – delicious! (Not to mention that this was made when I had few eggs left from some baking needs…).
  • And salads, salads, salads!

Coming soon: I am not too sure yet whether I’ll bake a dessert or chutney with the fresh rhubarb I got from the neighbours… !

It was Father’s day

Yeah!!! It was father’s day last Sunday. So black flies must have gone, if we believe the Maine’s say.

I discovered a secret path yesterday and decided to follow it. I expected maybe to meet up with Maine’s Troll or other dwelling being… I got such a strange feeling sometimes when discussing with squirrel or dears lately … but not willing to encounter a bear though…

It was a very hot day for the season and the location, I was dreaming to find out a water fall or little pond for a while; mostly alone, not afraid of keeping my physical distance!

It was a great hike in Acadia mountain. I promise I would do a part of it as a every-other-day hike alternating with my routine run. A blast!

Unusual Monday

Monday. The beginning of the week. Usually serious, heavy from the weight of the work week to come. Rush from the list of things to do. Desperate for the wait of the next weekend, finishing reheated left over food….

But today was special.

Today I saw a plane in the sky.

Today almost all the peony were opened, Shasta daisy flowers appeared more numerous wildly in the garden, and the Gerbera made a flower again.

Today mosquitos were attacking when I had dinner outside; when I was enjoying the freshly cooked garlic pasta dish – but black flies disappeared!

Today was a foggy day… ending nicely warm and sunny.

Today I listened to tango. Dreaming…

Day 93 – warmest so far

I am still at home, very slowly coming out… Last weekend, I had my first social experiences for a long time: a physically distanced hike with a friend and a walk with a large crowd in the peaceful march against racism. Otherwise, I didn’t meet much people since ages….

Maybe that’s the reason why I am closer to animals.

Frogs never talked as much as today. Even when I passed across, running, they didn’t stopped! I could hear some explaining their last week vacations, others detailing their wedding and how this spring was beginning late…. well, I am only half joking, they were soooo loud!

And look who came to visit me today, just in front of the kitchen!

It was the warmest day of the year, so far, 27°C today! Even the plants went down, so thirsty that I could hear them shout!! (Oh, that’s terrible, I am becoming a real witch!).

Happy spring!

Experiments (2)

When we arrived in Asia ten years ago, there was plenty of room to try new veggies, new fruits, new dishes, even new fishes and meat. From dragon fruit, jackfruits, and other yam to several special hot sauces or gravy, or even insects if I would like to, I enjoyed in discovering the different culinary habits and customs. I have not tried everything but tastes were rather exotic, sometimes strange and surely very varied. And I don’t talk about the variety of nationalities that added to the possible taste combinations (and “fusion” food).

I didn’t have high expectations when I arrived in the US, but even if the food would not be so varied, I was looking forward to finding “the best hamburger ever”, various sandwiches that I could not find elsewhere, and incredible Mexican and South-American dishes, apart from, perhaps, other type of high-quality fast food that I was not aware of.

Well, unfortunately the pandemic has postponed the opening of restaurant in the area (that essentially live from tourists here), so I could not “try” at all. So apart from delicious local beers, I have not been particularly challenged, yet.

But as a surprise, I had the opportunity to recently discover 2 delicious new dishes:

Radish leaf velouté, cooked with an onion, potatoes, garlic, veggetable stock, and salt and pepper; (I am still wondering why I didn’t try that before… excellent!);

Fiddleheads, a Maine tradition, which are basically unopened fronds of wild fern. They apparently only grow wild and must be carefully hand harvested otherwise the plant gets damaged. I cooked them first in hot salty water until they were still a bit crunchy, then pan fried them with a little of olive oil and lots of garlic. Their taste is something between asparagus, green beans, and maybe a very little bit of Lady’s fingers… Delicious!

Fireworks

I committed to run a half marathon on the 7th of June (See my post “Commitment” of March 15). Well, they canceled it, that was predictable, but I was determined to pursue my goal.

So yes, I did it! Sunday, late morning, alone, with my super high tech backpack, staying conservative and ending turning around my house to be sure I wouldn’t have to walk for some more kilometers before reaching home, I finished the 3rd half marathon of my life – with less crowd and less beer to celebrate. I am not particularly proud of my time, but happy that I did it alone, achieving a certain goal that needs particular pushes and motivation!

The rest of the day was rather calm, until I went to bed… I could think it was especially for me: there was suddenly a huge fireworks in front of my house! I learned the next day that the high school organized a special arranged-COVID19 ceremony for the students graduation 2020, and I supposed it was the purpose. Well, I slept well, in colorful thoughts!