Garden Report

Garden gloves - J's ingenious way of keeping them organized

We definitely enjoy a change of seasons here in Rochester. The problem is, you never quite know when Mother Nature is going to flip the switch, and the mild days of late summer/early fall become the rainy, miserable days of late fall. So every fall, we have endless debates about when should we actually cut everything back.

J trims before mowing. Last mow of the season?

Today we had 70 degrees, sun, and high wispy clouds. There is still a lot of stuff blooming in the garden -- blackeyed susans, zinnias, obedient plant (a plant that must have been named with a wish rather than reality because it is NOT very obedient!). There are probably 40 rose buds ready to pop. And the bachelor buttons are making a comeback. So it seems too early to finish cutting everything back. I did do a really serious trimming back of the herb garden -- but I bet there isn't anything I could do that would seriously affect the mint or chives, is there? Even after a cataclysm, mint would survive!

Remind me to plant more zinnias!

This year we didn't accomplish everything we wanted to in "Phase 4" of our gardening project. We wanted to get a dry well installed in the "new garden" to deal with some of the water problems that I created when I put the garden in. But it just didn't happen. Maybe next year. And we didn't get the fountain going either. J has the idea that if we change the the plastic tubing to a larger size, the flow will shoot up higher. I don't know -- we will see next year because we didn't finish it this year!

Strawberry Bed

One thing we did accomplish was to put in a strawberry bed. We installed a raised bed on the side of the house last year, but the lettuces we grew there were bitter and disappointing. So J thought we should give some strawberries a try. We planted one June bearing plants, and they have gone great guns! I was afraid they would have enough sun, but that hasn't been the case. Maybe next year we will have to consider adding an asparagus bed. J and I have the opinion that you can't have enough asparagus!

Obedient Plant

We still have a few things we want to do before the end of the year. For one, I ordered a ton of tulip and daffodil bulbs. And allium. And some other stuff that I can't remember. When they show up, we will have to pop them in the ground. We also want to remove a rather significant limb from the red bud tree that is shading the climbing rose too much. And of course, the rest of the cutting back. So we probably have 2 or 3 more happy days in the garden. And then it's time to start dreaming about next spring, when there will be even more things to do and plant and trim and enjoy!

The Last Rose of Summer

"The Last Rose Of Summer"

'Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone

All her lovely companions are faded and gone

No flower of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh

To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, to pine on the stem

Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them

Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed

Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead

So soon may I follow when friendships decay

And from love's shining circle the gems drop away

When true hearts lie withered and fond ones are flown

Oh who would inhabit this bleak world alone?

This bleak world alone ?

PS: Miss J suggested that I give attribution to the poet -- and she was right! The Last Rose of Summer was written by the Irish poet Thomas Moore in 1805. It was set to music the first time by Sir John Stevenson. For more interesting info, see Wikipedia. 

St. Rocco's Festival

St. Rocco

If you like to go to festivals, the Rochester area is the place to be. This weekend, Laurie, Pat, Liz, J, and I made the journey out to the St. Rocco's Festival near Holley, NY. There we bumped into friends and family of Pat's. You may not have heard of St. Rocco -- I hadn't. St. Rocco is invoked against cholera, epidemics, knee problems, plague, skin diseases. He is the Patron Saint of bachelors, diseased cattle, dogs, falsely accused people, invalids, Istanbul, surgeons, tile-makers, gravediggers, second-hand dealers, pilgrims and apothecaries. He is typically shown displaying the plague sore on his leg, and with a dog who has a loaf of bread in his mouth.That's because when St. Rocco was stricken ill with plague (which he contracted while nursing the sick), he withdrew to the forest where he lived in a hut. A dog miraculously appeared and fed him bread, and healed him by licking the Saint's wounds. Personally, I think that the dog is the saint in the story, but that's just me.

Fried Dough

The number one attraction for us was the food: shells, meatball subs, eggplant parmigiana, pizza, Italian sausage, hots, french fries and fried dough were offered. I had shells and eggplant. My egg plant was wonderful. That's a dish that is generally too much work for me to want to make it at home, so it is great to get it out. The fried dough was the clear winner, and I went back for seconds!

Liz knows when to quit!

Besides the food, there were games of chance, of course. At this festival, they offered both roulette, and the pull-open tickets. Lizzie hasn't met a game of chance that she doesn't love, I think, and she made quite a killing on the roulette wheel. She wasn't saying how much she actually won, but I think the roulette wheelman's expression in this picture says it all, don't you????

Boccie Ball

We didn't play in the boccie ball tournament -- but only because we didn't know about it in advance. St. Rocco's sports five "permanent" boccie ball lanes, and the tournament was in full steam while we were there. Maybe next year, eh, G's????? I didn't see any female teams -- I think we should shake things up a bit, don't you???

"These little town blues...."

Produce for sale

St. Rocco's also had a "DJ" and he was spinning an eclectic mix that included tunes like "Achey Breaky Heart" and "Twist and Shout". When the G's heard "New York, New York" -- obligatory at any celebration held in the Empire State -- they couldn't hold back. The festival season isn't over yet -- we still have the Clothesline Festival next week -- but it is definitely winding down. Soon it will be winter again and we will all be holed up in our nests, looking forward to Super Bowl weekend. But for now, it's still summer  (at least until the 21st!) and we are having fun!

Staycation With Liz and Pat

Our friend Liz suggested we join her for a "stay-cation" trip down to Skaneateles, NY. Skaneateles, about an hour and a half from Rochester, is a resort town on a really beautiful lake. Most of the little towns in western New York State have had quite a hard time of it -- there just isn't any industry to keep them going. But because Skaneateles is on what must be the most beautiful of the finger lakes, it is actually doing quite well.

Our first stop was at Doug's Fish Fry for lunch. We all had the fried haddock -- which was very lightly battered and fried crisp and delish. (My stomach is actually growling as I write this. It was that good! I might just hop back in the car and have it for dinner!) We are fussy about our fish fries here in in Rochester, and Doug's definitely measured up. It was served with hand cut french fries. I liked them, but this wasn't the universal opinion. They just weren't crispy enough for 3 of the 4 of us. The cole slaw was a big hit, however. Cole slaw is one of those things that you tend to just ignore. It's never the star of the show, for sure. But this was cole slaw like no other, with enough onion and celery and a very light dressing.

After lunch, we strolled around and poked our noses into the shops. Nothing was really irresitable, but we did find a chocolate shop. The heath bar-esque thing I had was good.

After our stroll, we ambled over to the dock and boarded the good ship Judge Ben Wiles for a sightseeing cruise. Skaneateles has some pretty spectacular "camps" as they call lakeside mansions here. There was one place that they told us cost $20 million. And, oh by the way, they were adding on to it. It looked like there was going to be quite the sizable addition, based on the construction we saw.

 There wasn't a lot of boat traffic, which was nice. The lake had a very serene feel to it. This is definitely a place I would recommend to you, if you are in the area. I hope we will get back there again soon.

Maybe My Next New Dishes? Sophie Conran for Porteirion

I love my everyday dishes, and it was love at first sight about 15 years ago when I first spotted them at Williams Sonoma. They are creamy white with a broad border of maroon on the rim and a tiny edge of dark blue. But they are stoneware, and that means that they have developed a lot of little chips, especially after they became my everyday china.

So I know I need to replace them sometime soon, but I am not looking forward to that angst producing effort. Not one bit. So imagine my surprise when, while window shopping in Niagara-on-the-Lake, I saw these dishes! They are Sophie Conran for Porteirion in Celadon blue. And they are porcelain, much sturdier than stoneware. And the internet tells me that they are on sale right now for about 50% off! That makes things very doable for me!

Early in my life I decided that I didn't need serving pieces that matched. I just needed serving pieces that "go with". So my large collection of platters, bowls and other serving pieces will go very nicely. Now, if only J will feel the same way about these!

Quick Trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara-on-the-Lake, located on Lake Ontario, is the home to the Shaw Festival. I've wanted to go for a long time, so this year we were able to find a date when we were a)both available and b)the plays were running were ones we wanted to see. So Friday, Miss J and I tossed a few things in a bad and drove up.

Zee's Restaurant The porch was the nicest part.

We had dinner at a place that I had heard good things from from our friends Laurie and Pat. Zee's is located across the street from the Shaw Festival Theatre, but in our opinion, that was about all it had going for it. I would say the food was only "meh" and the service was really poor.

We started off with Caesar Salads. I don't really go for a Caesar salad very often, but there wasn't anything else on the starters  that looked interesting. The salads were ok, although a little odd. the lettuce was cut into thin ribbons, and there were two rounds of fried pancetta. As far as I could taste, no cheese.

When we turned our attention to the main course,  J didn't see anything on the main menu that appealed to her -- a very rare thing, as she is easy to please. She asked if they could turn an appetizer into a main dish. They said yes -- and then gave her a pile of shrimp on a dinner plate. No garnish, no side dish.

My choice was diver scallops on creamy polenta with puree of fresh peas. I got four, slightly over-cooked scallops on a very tasty polenta. The pea puree was the narrowest sripe of green around the polenta.

Throughout our service was very lackluster. The waiter would zip by our table from time to time to check on us, but wouldn't actually stop to hear what we needed. We decided to skip the desert and get an ice cream cone somewhere else. We stopped at the first place we came to: Cows. And oh baby, was it worth the points! I had something called Ooey gooey I think -- it was wonderful homemade tasting vanilla ice cream with maybe peanut butter cups or something like them in them. Really wonderful ice cream.

That evening we saw One Touch of Venus at the Royal George. The Royal George is described as being plain on the outside, but an Edwardian Jewel box on the inside. If Edwardian Jewel box is code for "tiny little seats intended for tiny Edwardian butts," it was. The play was light and amusing, with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash Book by Ogden Nash and S.J. Perelman.

Saturday we had breakfast at our hotel -- the Hilton Garden Inn, about 10 minutes from the center of Niagara-on-the-lake. The night before I had had a nice glass of Cabernet, and I was keen to buy a couple of bottles. We drove out to Inniskillen Winery. When I saw that the bottle was about $40, a couple of bottles became one. Actually, I realized when I got home that I bought something different than what I had enjoyed the previous night. I bought Legacy Cabernet Franc, not Cabernet Savingnon.  Here's what they say bout the Carbernet Franc:

The 2007 vintage in Niagara is one of the best in recent years. The long dry hot summer helped the grapes develop the required flavours. The abundant sunshine provided flexibility to allow extended hang time to achieve optimal fruit ripeness. Look for 2007 wines from Niagara to show more body, structure and flavour.

Black currant and floral aromas combine with cedar, tobacco and vanilla on the expressive nose. Black currant, ripe raspberry and tobacco flavours are dominant on the approachable palate that displays silky tannins leading into a long finish of blackberry, spice and tobacco.

I'm looking foward to trying it!

On Saturday we strolled about the town a while, and then had a light lunch in an open-air cafe.  It was a really beautiful day, and J enjoyed her Chicken Caesar, and I my Brie and Ham on Croissant. (I'll eat anything on a Croisant and be happy with it!). The town was full of people, and flowers were absolutely beautiful. J's hip was bothering her a little bit so we only walked around a little while until we made our way to the Festival Theatre to see Oscar Wilde's "The Idea Husband." 

This was one of the best plays I have seen in a very long time. First of all, the play itself was hilarious -- Wilde is famous for his wit, of course. But there is such a lack of wittiness in the present time -- what passes for humor is just pale compared to what Wilde turns out. The costumes were scrumptious. I trolled about on the internet to see if I could find a picture to share with you, but unfortunately there was nothing. I highly recommend the play to you so you can see for yourself! The drive home was more or less uneventful. I think it took us about an hour to cross at the Lewiston Bridge. It wasn't as backup up as the last time we crossed there. (That had been on Canadian Thanksgiving and I think we were 2 hours getting accross.) But we didn't get home until 8 pm. But what a great time! I'm looking forward to doing it again next year!

Hurd's Orchards and a Beautiful Summer Day

We are having absolutely the most glorious summer day. The weather is mild, sunny with a light breeze. The birds are singing their hearts out! And, the flowers just keep on coming. We have a lot of day lilies, and most of them have begun blooming. Still to come are the ones we got last year at a wonderful day lily farm near here -- QB Day Lily Gardens. If you are in the neighborhood, you should definitely check them out.

So yesterday we took a drive out to Holley, NY to visit my absolute favorite vegetable stand, Hurd's Orchards. Hurd's is a darling place -- full of jams, jellies, and preserves made from their own luscious fruit. And cookies. And dried lavender. And sweet cottage-y linens. And bowls. It is really adorable, as you can see. They have berry fields about 2 miles from the store and J and I headed over to pick raspberries. We intended to only pick 2 quarts for ourselves, plus one for our friend Liz. But the picking was so easy that we actually picked 4 quarts.

The raspberries canes were just laden with fruit. When we moved into the field, the buzz of the bees was so loud! I was a little nervous at first because I am very allergic to bee sting. But I had an Epi Pen in my pocket, and the bees were actually too busy to notice us. It took us about 30 minutes to pick our 4 quarts and it was only good sense that made us stop at that. It so beautiful there that I think we could have picked until supper time!

On the way home we stopped at another fruit stand and bought 3 ears of local corn. Yes, people. Corn on July 2nd! How is that even possible? I was a little skeptical about how good the corn would be, but it was actually fantastic. Here is how I cook corn: I bring my big dutch oven full of water to a rolling boil, and drop in the fresh corn. Then I turn off the heat, put the lid on tight and make the rest of dinner. J asked me what the minimum time is for the corn to be in the hot water. Honestly, I don't know. I guess it took me about  40 minutes to make dinner  last night. And the corn was perfect then. I think there must be a very wide range of acceptable times to make corn this way because I have never had it not come out perfect and it takes me anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes to make dinner. I only wish I had bought more corn!