fresh snap peas

I picked a giant bowl full of snap peas this week. I was thinking I'd make snap pea pickles, which sound great to me. But I haven't done that yet and we're eating them pretty fast raw with dips and briefly cooked as a side dish. And ... kind of silly, but we did put a few in a martini. Grey Goose vodka and very fresh snap peas....

carrot martini

This is a giant purple-skinned carrot that a friend of my mom grew. Perfect for a martini!

happy new year

to the start of another week - cheers!

Today I pulled the carrots I sowed in August. Pretty baby carrots. Somehow a rabbit seems to have found his way into the garden and ate off most of the carrot greens. I am fascinated that he only ate the carrots. Next year I am planning a chicken wire tunnel over the carrots.

I ended up harvesting about a dozen heads of lettuce today as there may be a hard frost tonight. Some lettuce plants I dug and moved into my cold frame to see how they do there over the winter. I also harvested leeks, walking onions, Savoy cabbage, bok choi, baby beets and baby carrots.

To end the day, we tried a new combination of veggies in a martini: baby carrots, walking onions and an olive. I highly recommend it!

watermelon martini!!

This was the most crisp and sweet watermelon I've ever tasted! It was small but really yummy. My cantaloupes didn't ripen fully, even in the long hot summer we had this year.

cheers to the first cuke of the season!!!

A pretty little North Carolina Pickling cucumber is my first this year. As usual.... And what to do to celebrate the first cucumber? A martini of course.

(my nails look like I've been digging potatoes! yes.)

These are our new martini glasses. Hand blown depression glass in two shades of green. The perfect accessory for planning a new garden. I'm working on a review of last year's garden. It requires a lot of reflection.

Cheers! And Happy New Year!

cucumbers

Still lots of cucumbers hiding under the leaves in my vine filled cold frame. It seems this is a good spot for them. I notice that most other cucumber patches around here have turned brown and stopped producing. I think the frame has sheltered them well in this hot dry summer. I'm starting to get a little mildew on the leaves now, but not too bad.

I can't even come close to eating them all. I meant to make pickles, and maybe I will soon, but I haven't had time to do this yet.

But maybe I won't have extras now, because I've discovered a nice way to use them: tiny baby cucumbers in a martini! A perfect way to eat a whole cuke in one bite.

birthday martini

What better for a birthday than a local potato vodka martini with a big slice of freshly picked Diva cucumber. Ahhh.

cheers to cucumber season!

My first cukes are in. Yippy! I love to make cucumber martinis. Of course, they're nice in salads too. My earliest varieties are blocky white North Carolina pickling cucumbers and Burpee's Sweet Success.

This year I am growing my cucumbers (and melons) on trellises in my cold frame (with covers removed). I have an automatic sprinkler set up to give them 10 minutes of water every evening. They seem to like this.

a toast to the new season

We've done a lot of planting this weekend. Soon I'll have fresh homegrown vegetables for my martini. Radish, then carrots, then cucumbers, onions, melons, apples, pears .... And maybe I can discover a new martini this year. Today's martini is traditional - a couple of nice olives. Cheers!

Note added: Oliver sent me this link http://www.gineralelection.com/. Cute site. Now I'm really looking forward to fresh cukes - with Hendricks. (I think Oliver may work for them, but the site (and gin) is good anyway.)



(click on the link below to see previous martinis)

super bowl martini

Go Saints!

Today's martini recipe:
Chill two glasses, martini shaker and a nice bourbon. To shaker add: crushed ice, chilled bourbon, a couple drops sweet vermouth, and wave the Angostura bitters nearby. Shake well. Pour into chilled glasses with skewered Maraschino cherry and dried fruits (fig, cherry, cranberry). Add Maraschino cherry juice to sweeten taste.

(This is called a bourbon martini, also a Sahara-dry Manhattan.)

cheers to the harvest - winter radish martinis

My first homegrown winter radish!

These are a special group of radish that need to be grown while day length is shrinking. They should be planted in late summer to mature about 2 weeks after the first frost. I pulled a few of mine a little early, but more are still in the ground. I planted these when my popcorn started to tassel - around the 25th of July.

The mix I have is from Sand Hill Preservation Center and includes three types: China Rose, China White and Round Black Spanish. The Round Black Spanish is very wonderfully black and round. It keeps solid as a baseball until April - even after slicing. I bought some from the supermarket last year, and this was very true. The Sand Hill catalog says, "Vegetables of this type were essential and popular 100 years ago. Today's instant gratification society and modern shipping methods have replaced this wonderful type of radish."

The flavor is very much like a spring radish. Spicy and crisp. Refreshing whiteness in a martini! We added dried cranberries and papaya for a spicy/sweet and colorful drink.

Cheers to the harvest! The land has been good to us again.

melons and martinis

Charantais melon

Crane melon and Sugar Baby watermelon

Anne Arundale melon plant under the corn stalks

My melon plants are looking really scrawny still. The cool, wet weather has not been good for them. They've ended up buried beneath tall corn or rampant squashes. But this week is finally perfect melon weather - 90*F and full sun. Fruit is setting. But it seems late to me and I'm wondering if any will have time to ripen.

The real farmers have plenty of melons already. I had a very nice melon from Picadilly Farm (NH) last night. The good news is I've discovered another delicious martini! Perfect for the hottest days of summer. Cheers!

the 4th of July !!! Cheers to the summer!

Our 4th martini. Our 4th ribs. And Skippy's 4th nap. Not too bad. Thank goodness for a whole day of full sun. (perfect, if the Sox would have had won...)

radish martini !!

I am hosting a CSA distribution site this summer for Picadilly Farm. The first distribution was this week. They have beautiful vegetables! Lettuce, spinach, hakuri turnips, arugula and beautiful spicy radishes. Definitely worth toasting to!



Topic: martini!

tgis

Thank goodness its SPRING!!!! A great reason to celebrate....
Topic: martini

TGIF

Ahhhh.....

This is a nice one. A winter radish, variety Misato Rose. It was grown at my local CSA farm. A variety I've never heard of and would like to try in my garden next year. It tastes like a regular radish, but milder, crispier and much more colorful. Really nice when it freezes in the cold gin.

Topic: martini

apple-tinis

Its time to celebrate finishing the plot expansion! This is the second apple from my little backyard Fuji apple tree. Delicious!

Recipe: To shaker, add crushed ice, dash of dry vermouth and gin. Shake well. Pour into chilled glasses. Add several apple slices and some dried cranberries. Cheers!

Apples (Malus domestica)
Topic: martini!

cheers to another Friday night!

Cheers! We had my giant carrots in our martinis tonight.

Daucus carota
Topic: martini!