Cookies for Retreat: A Quick Visit to Dewachen!

Ontul Rinpoche

We had a wonderful time this weekend at our Buddhist center, the Amitabha Foundation in Rochester, NY. Ontul Rinpoche, a skillful teacher and inspiring yogi, was invited by our founder Ayang Rinpoche to teach  on several topics, including Bodhicitta (Loving Kindness and Compassion) and Lojong, a Tibetan mind-training tradition. Ontul Rinpoche brought his son, Ratna Rinpoche along. It was wonderful to see Ontul Rinpoche again and meet Ratna Rinpoche.

Buddha Amitabha, for whom our center is named, has a pure land called Dewachen, the land of great bliss. There all the conditions are perfect for enlightenment. We strive to give our retreatants an experience that mirrors that. So we do a lot of little things to that end, including serving yummy snacks!

I made some cookies for retreat, and they were very well received by everyone, including Ginger Cookies that I make all the time. You can find the recipe here.

Here are the other (much requested) recipes!

This first recipe is from the site Two Peas and Their Pod. The original recipe says it makes only 16 cookie bars. Believe me, if you ate one that big, you would probably go into a coma! This are rich rich rich! I cut them in to about 36 bares and that was plenty big! Also, the recipe says there is a 15 minute prep time. It took me at least that long to unwrap the darned carmels! I think the prep time was at least double that. But the cookies are worth it, I promise you.
You can find the original recipe here.

Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

Yield: 16 cookie bars

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Chocolate chip cookie bars with a layer of salted caramel. These gooey sweet and salty cookie bars are pretty much perfection!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 10 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• Sea salt, for sprinkling over caramel and bars

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 2-quart baking pan (which is an 11 X 7 pan-I used a glass Pyrex dish) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave caramels on High until caramels are melted, stirring every 20 seconds. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.
5. Divide the cookie dough in half. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Pour hot caramel over the cookie dough. Sprinkle caramel with sea salt. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel and spread dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.
6. Bake cookie bars for 30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

 **************************
This second recipe comes from Cooking Light and can be found here. I added pecans to the recipe. I think just about everything is better with nuts!

Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg 
• 2/3 cup dried tart cherries
• 3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.
3. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven; cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Julie Grimes Bottcher, Cooking Light
DECEMBER 2005

 *****************************

I wanted another non-chocolate cookie to offer our guests, and as I said earlier, I love all things nutty. So I decide a  peanut butter style cookie made with almond butter would be just the thing. It was harder than you can imagine to find such a recipe. But I did finally find this one. Everyone raved about these cookies. I didn't put the almonds on top, only because I forgot.

You can find the original recipe here.

Eastern European Almond Butter Cookie Recipes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) softened butter
• 3/4 cup cold almond butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 
2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat together butter, almond butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. 
3. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition. If dough is too soft, refrigerate for up to 3 hours. Otherwise, using a 1 1/2-inch cookie scoop, portion out dough on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing at least 1 inch apart. Using the bottom of a floured glass or a glass dipped in sugar, flatten each cookie mound slightly. Top with a few slivered almonds, if desired. 
4. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden on top and bottom. Do not overbake. Cool on pan 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Rochester Jazz Festival - Are You Hungry?

 Miss J and I took in the Rochester Jazz Festival the other night. We had tickets to Steve Martin's show -- a show that sold out in about 10 minutes! Lucky for me,  Miss J has a cool head and a steady clicking finger and she was able to score us quite good tickets.

So before the show, we strolled around and scoped out the food choices. We have equally coveted tickets to Nora Jones tonight, and due to the competitive parking situation, decided that it would be best to come at dinner time, eat at the festival, and then go to the 8pm show. Here's what we found:

Poutine, thanks to Wikipedia

French fries covered with cheese and hot peppers in a paper dog bowl?

We observed a lot of folks carrying what looked to be dog dishes, filled with something that gave me gas just to think about it: french fries, hot peppers and cheese that had an extremely unnatural color. Is this some Rochesterian version of poutine? Poutine, for the uninitiated is a Canadian "delicacy" made of french fires, brown gravy and cheese curds. I think it's a ghastly idea, but lots and lots of other people think differently.

Lots of choices

Most of the choices were what you would expect if you have experienced Rochester festival food. There was italian sausage, with the obligatory peppers and onions. There were both red and white hots. Fried dough, our answer to funnel cake, was present. I did see crab cakes, and I might be brave enough to go for those. Although I usually disappointed when I try for something "high falutin'" rather than just sticking with the tried and true.

Dinner avec a chair

Some people chose to eat at "Betty's" in the Eastman Theater where the concert was held. I think the have those giant cookies, and box wine for sale in there. But you do get a chair, and that's something.

Curb-stone setters

For the rest of us, the curb would do. It's not about the actual food, afterall. It's about  being part of the crowd, celebrating fantastic music, and celebrating SUMMER! The solstice has passed and now we are on our way to that other season -- I won't even say the word -- but for everyone in Rochester, the clock is tick-tick-ticking. And we must make hay (or hots!) while the sun shines!

Four Signs That It's Spring in Rochester, NY

I love Rochesterians in the Springtime. Everyone is so HAPPY that it's over. It being winter. People are practically giddy. Rochesterians really appreciate the good weather. Where else do you have at least one festival of some sort or another every weekend from April 15 - October 1. Most weekends there are several, especially once the volunteer fire companies start their "Firemen's Field Days".

So here are the four signs that say Spring is definitely arrived:

 Red Winged Blackbird from Wikipedia!

1. Red wing blackbirds have returned! I know some people think it's the first robin, but we had the first robin in February. I think that's too soon. Miss J insists it's the return of the Junkos -- but I've never seen them. They seem to come while I'm at work and only Miss J is around. Hmmmm. The Canada Geese (not, as frequently labled, "Canadian" geese.) also return and pair up for breeding time. Soon we will look like a page out of Make Way for Ducklings as all the babies hatch out and doing what Canada Geese do best: make goose poop!

Our little piece of paradise!

2. I arrive late for work. I don't leave the house any later, and in fact, I might even wake up earlier than in the winter. But I can't seem to get to work on time because I start "touring the grounds". I have to see what in our rather extensive gardens is starting to come up. Right now we have crocuses and snow drops blooming. Daffodil buds are swelling, and I expect blooms by the weekend if we really get those 60 degree days that are promised. The new tulips I planted across the front of the house are up. I'm thrilled they didn't all end up as squirrel snacks.

3. Love is in the air, at least for the squirrels. I'm not going to include a picture so this blog will remain "safe for work." All I can say is, "bow chicka bowbow!"

Spring Peeper, thanks to Wikipedia

4. The peepers start singing. My friend Lois used to say, "The peepers have to freeze three times before it is really Spring!" I think we are a ways out from peeper time, but soon I'll start driving home with my windows down, straining to hear those peepers. Then count 3 freezes and I'll know for sure that Spring has arrived and Winter is gone. Lois is gone now, and I miss both her and her hubby, Bruce. Especially when I hear the peepers singing.

Cold Snowy February Day

J and I went out shooting on Saturday. We have been having such a snowy cold winter. I don't remember one like it in the twenty five years I have lived here.



I got a new lens for Christmas, and I was all hot to use it. So we went to the Rochester pier at Charlotte, and shot these pictures. It didn't take very long for us to be chilled right to the bone. So even though a couple of guys came by and told us that there was an eagle at the end on the pier, we couldn't force ourselves out to see it.


And of course the wide angle lens that I had was not the right one to use for the eagle, but climbing over the snow bank to get back to the car to change the lens, with my fingers all stupid from the cold, well, it just wasn't going to happen.



I'm counting the days until spring. I can't wait for my new bulbs to come up. And for some temperatures above 20 degrees.

Planning a Cheese Course

I revised this posting on 2/31/10/
I am serving a cheese course on New Years Eve. I have served cheeses as part of a buffet or with drinks. I usually choose a brie or something Brie- like, a jalsburg or something similar, a cheddar, and, if J isn't going to be there, a blue cheese.

So I wanted to do something a little more exotic, not in a threatening way, but let's all stretch a little on the last day of the year and see if we can't discover something new and wonderful. My web searching turned up gourmet food store that called it's cheese department a fromagerie So off I went to Max's.

There are four Max restaurants in Rochester. One is cross the street from the Eastman Theater, and J took me there for my birthday this year. This was the restaurant where they asked my how I wanted my pork chop cooked. As in, did I want it rare. That was one of those moments when I realized that I had a certain view of the universe, and it was utterly wrong. I had the mistaken notion that pork was to be cooked well done, at least.

Cheese from Max's Market

So the shop I was setting off to is part of the Max's franchise. The front of the store is expensive jams and pickles, and other nonessentials. Nothing too strange, and sadly, nothing as nice as the Simon David  a lovely store where my mother would buy wonderful pastrami and lox. In the back of Max's is a takeaway gourmet meals area, and you can also order something to eat there. And there is the cheese case. http://www.maxmarketmonroe.net/

Chris, of Max's Market, helped me choose. This is what I brought home:

Bellweather Farms "Carmody" "A Bellwether original! Made from Jersey cow milk and aged at least 6 weeks. Naturally golden in color with a smooth texture and wonderful flavor, Carmody is a consistent blue ribbon winner at the Los Angeles County Fair." http://www.bellwetherfarms.com/home/

Manchego. "The intense taste and crumbly texture make it perfect to eat it as is, with a slice of bread. As the focal point of Antipasto, Manchego can be served with olives, sun-dried tomatos, crusty bread and a robust red wine (Rioja) or a dry sherry (Fino).It is equally enjoyable as a snack or dessert with fruit or fruit tarts."

Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam Triple Cream "Just North of the San Francisco Bay, Mt. Tamalpais rises like a monument to Northern California's natural beauty. In deference, Cowgirl Creamery named its signature cheese MT TAM. It's a smooth, creamy, elegant, 10-oz, triple-cream - made with tasty organic milk from the Straus Family Dairy. MT TAM is firm, yet buttery with a mellow, earthy flavor reminiscent of white mushrooms."

Artisinal Carbecou Feuille. "Cabecou Feuille, a small disc of fresh goat cheese from the Perigord region of France, is dipped in plum brandy and sprinkled with coarse black pepper before being wrapped in two chestnut leaves to mature. Cabecou is smooth and creamy with aromatic brandy flavors and a tangy bite."

Capra Ubriaco al Traminer "Capra Ubriaco al traminer is a firm cheese steeped for a period of 10 days in a red grape must. The Traminer grape is a relative to the Gewurztraminer. The added wine flavor gives the pleasantly milky cheese more complexity and richness on the palate."

I didn't realize that the Carbecou Feuille was dipped in brandy. I considered replacing it with it with this Cowgirl Creamery cheese: "Cowgirl Creamery captures the essence of West Marin with its Red Hawk, a triple-cream, washed-rind, fully-flavored cheese made from organic cow milk from the Straus Family Dairy. Aged four weeks and washed with a brine solution that tints the rind a sunset red-orange, Red Hawk won Best-In-Show at the American Cheese Society's Annual Conference in 2003 and a Gold Ribbon and 2nd Best-in-Show in 2009." It also looked like it was too small to split 5 ways, so I took off for the Pittsford Wegman's to find a replacement.

If you don't live in the Rochester area, or one of the other lucky towns that have a Wegman's, you won't really understand the devotion that we have for this wonderful grocery stores! The Pittsford Weggies, nicknamed "Taj Ma-Weggies" by our friend Sherrie, has not only everything you might want to buy, but the absolute best of everything. And they are staffed by the most friendly, helpful, and customer-centered people that breath air. Seriously, I'm not sure why I didn't buy all of the cheese at Wegmans. Next time I will.

Wegman's to the rescue!

So, a young lady named Sarah carefully listened to my request for a washed rind cheese to complete my cheese plate, and suggested Bourboned Pie D'angloys, a cheese made from French cow's milk. Here's how this website describes this cheese: "Decadently smelly and drippy inside it is reminiscent of a very ripe brie. As you may have guessed from the picture of a tiled roof house, it hails from Burgundy. As far as I know, it is sold in the Francophone zone only (France, Southern Belgium, Luxembourg, Western Switzerland). It seems a recent - post-WWII - invention but what it lacks in pedigree it makes good in taste." This is indeed a stinky cheese. I'm hoping it won't be too off putting for my guests.

Truffle Honey

I will be serving these cheese on individual plates with a smear of truffle honey. I'll also offer three nice breads (also from Wegman's, of course!) One is a sourdough raisin, and I can't wait to pair it with the Pie D'angloys. I also have a nice whole wheat bread, and a white French baguette. Because I bought an entire jar but only needed one for the Remoulade sauce, I'll set out some cornichons. And while I'm at it, an apple and some dried apricots.

Picotee Leaves

We had a hard frost last night!

Nazareth College Arts Center: The Merchants of Bollywood

Honest, sometimes it feels like the arts options in Rochester are unlimited. This year we have subscribed to a series of programs from the Nazareth Arts Center. Last week our first program, the Merchants of Bollywood, presented. It was a great show, very enthusiastic and over-the-top as things from India can be when viewed with American eyes. I think the actors probably thought we were sticks-in-the-mud because we didn't much get into the call-and-response parts of the show. But I think the audience all enjoyed it. I'm including this clip from YouTube. But there is a long lead in before you actually get to the music, so sorry about that. 

The next program will be ScrapArtsMusic on November 14.

Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, October 30, 2010

We are so lucky, here in Rochester, to have an orchestra like the RPO. Our concertmaster is Juliana Athayde, and I feel like the Orchestra has just gotten better and better since she joined us in 2005.

This week's concert was simply amazing, probably one of my favorites ever. The program included Mephisto Waltz No. 1 by Franz Listz. Here is a video of Bayram Karamenderes playing. The version we heard at the RPO was arranged for orchestra. According to the program, "Many composers of the Romantic era were drawn to the macabre. The medieval legend of Faust, the learned doctor who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for great knowledge and eternal your, attracted legions of them."

The second selection of the evening was Concerto in A Minor for Oboe and String Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The oboe solo was played by our own Erik Behr. Rochester audiences are very generous, but we all were proud of Erik's performance and he was rewarded with an enthusiastic standing ovation. Erik was grinning ear-to-ear! This YouTube video doesn't really do justice to the piece. The oboe sounds kind of thin and tinny in it. But it will give you a (faint) idea of what the second movement was like.



The second half of the concert was Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 7 in D monor, Op 70. Dvorak usually pulls from the folk songs of his youth, and those are my favorites. This symphony doesn't come from that place, but rather is an experiment in expanding his creative range. Even still, I love Dvorak.



Isn't it wonderful that I can illustrate my blog posting with excerpts from the music itself? Amazing!

Fredrick Olmsted Parks Photos

We are very fortunate in Rochester, NY to have 3 Fredrick Olmsted parks. For those not familiar with Olmsted, he is considered to be the "father of the landscape architecture profession." Rochester is one of only 4 cities that have park system, including Highland Park, Genesee Valley Park, and Seneca Park. Here's what Rochester's Landmark Society has to say about Olmstea's design:

Highland Park, October 2010

Olmsted's three major parks in Rochester each represented different landscape styles. Highland Park was created on land donated to the city by horticulturists George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry; in recognition of their gift, the design called for an arboretum of various plants and shrubs that would preserve the dazzling views from the top of the hill. Genesee Valley Park, designed in Olmsted's classic pastoral style, features gently rolling terrain along the river south of downtown. Seneca Park, meanwhile, is an excellent example of Olmsted's picturesque style, with rugged terrain meant to inspire wonder and awe. 

Highland Park, October 2010

When Olmsted suggested setting aside the land for Highland, Genesee Valley and Seneca Parks, some people thought it unnecessary to set aside so much land so far from the center of the city, in relatively undeveloped areas where open land was plentiful. As Olmsted expected, the parks were not on the fringes for very long, as the city quickly grew to surround them. Today, Rochester's three large Olmsted parks provide tranquility and beauty right in the city, while smaller parks and parkways are focal points of their neighborhoods.

One of the reasons that I love Olmsted (besides the obvious reason that his parks are so darn beautiful!) is that he worked from a set of principles. These principles can be adopted to MY garden, too. Here's how Mt. Holyoke describes Olmsted's design principles:

Genesee Valley Park, October 2010

Scenery: Designs of “passages of scenery” with a liberal use of plantings even in the smallest spaces and in areas with the most active use.  

Suitability: Creation of designs that are in keeping with the natural scenery and topography of the location with a respect for and full utilization of the “genius of the place.” 

Sanitation: Creation of designs to promote both physical and mental health of users with provisions for adequate drainage and similar engineering considerations. 

Subordination: Subordination of all details and features (both of natural and artificial materials) to the overall design and the effect intended for it to achieve. 

Separation: Separation of areas done in different styles so that “incongruous mixture of styles” will not dilute the intended effect of each; separation of ways in order to insure safety of use and reduce distractions for those using the space; separation of uses that conflict with another. 

Spaciousness: Creation of designs that make the area seem larger than it is using bays and headlands of plantings forming indefinite boundaries.

Restaurant Review: Next Door Bar and Grill

This green is the "signature" color!

I don't know what it is, but when I make up our grocery list every week (and menu), I just can't come up with seven dinners. Six, no problem. Seven, impossible! That was the case this week, so we went out last night. Instead of sushi, our hands-down favorite, we tried The Next Door Bar and Grill. For non-Rochester readers, NDBG is owned by a local grocery store chain. Doesn't that sound dismal? Well, Wegmans is not like any other grocery store you have ever been in, believe me. The Pittsford Weggies (dubbed "Taj MaWeggies" by our friend Sherri) is actually a tourist destination! You can read Yelp reviews about it here.

So last night we headed over to the Next Door. Right off the bat I loved the place because they have complimentary valet parking. The two young men were wearing apple-green polo shirts that exactly matched the sign. Nice -- I always wonder about a place when the valet help looks like they might steal your car. The boys were fresh faced and very welcoming.

When you walk in, you are greeted by floor to ceiling shelves with green apples, I assume Granny Smiths. They were very novel looking, but I had a hard time getting a decent picture so you will just have to let your imagination do the work.

The restaurant is very noisy in a clattery, bar room kind of way. Walking in I could hear J say, "oh, noisy!" so I asked the receptionist if they had a quiet table. She took us in to a side room that was quieter, although not really quiet, if you know what I mean.

 Our waiter asked if we would like a drink while we looked over the menu. I asked for a Cabernet, and she suggested a Spanish wine that they were featuring: Payra Tempanillow 2008. It was lovely -- fruit forward but full bodied. I got the name and am hoping to find some locally.

Bibb Salad

The menu was very creative. There were  two pages of sushi offerings -- which looked nice but the reason we were there rather than at our favorite sushi joint was because I wanted something different. We both ordered a bib lettuce salad, which had thinly slice radishes, asparagus, applewood smoked bacon, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and what they called a herb vinaigrette. The dressing was very lemony, not in a bad way, but very strong tasting. They used a very light hand putting on the dressing, which is to our liking.

J's Mixed Robata Grill. 

J ordered the Robata Grill mix, which was little skewers with pork, chicken, beef, eggplant, and asparagus. It was a beautiful dish, but I don't know that she would order it again. One of the meats (I thought it was the beef, she thought it was the pork) was about half fat. Now, I like my fat as much as the next girl, but Miss J is not a fan.

I ordered the salmon, which came with a very novel slaw. The slaw was made of a little grated red cabbage, arugala, sea weed, and cilantro leaves, dressed with a sesame dressing. I think it needed a little more salt, but it was really interesting. I never thought to put wakame in a slaw. Or cilantro either. I think this slaw would be great on my fish tacos and will try it next time.

Grilled salmon with slaw and wontons

The salmon was served with a ginger vinegar dipping sauce and two fried wontons filled with minced salmon dressed with mayonnaise. The wontons were my least favorite part of the dish -- they were really thick, more like an old school fried pie than a thin delicate crispy wonton. I am a girl who never met a dumpling that she didn't like, but from now on when I say that I am going to add , "Except for some salmon filled fried wontons I had once."

Almond apple cake and snickerdoodle icecream

We didn't order an appetizer, so we had room for dessert. The dessert menu had a number of interesting things, including a creme brulee sampler with three different creme brulees. But we decided to share the almond apple cake, served with a scoop of snickerdoodle ice cream. This picture is really washed out because my phone was having a hard time capturing the ice cream on a white plate. But the ice cream was wonderful! I make apple pie with cinnamon ice cream for Thanksgiving frequently. (Not frequently enough for my daughter!). This dessert reminded me of that. The apple cake was very thin slices of apple, that had been stacked in a ramekin, and then a batter poured into it. It kind of made me think of a cobbler. The ice cream was on some pulverized sugary crumbs, and was the best part of the dish.

Bathroom sink

The restaurant was beautiful, including the bathrooms. Well, I can't really speak for the men's room. But the ladies' was lovely. The sink, which took up one entire wall, was made of a piece of heavy glass that was attached at a 45 degree angle from the wall. The water came out of a spigot that looked like a metal version of a Japanese water garden spigot. The water turned on automatically when you stepped up to the sink, and miracle of miracles, the water was warm! I hate cold water in bathrooms. This isn't a good picture, but maybe you get the idea.

Log decorations. Go figure!

Outside the bathroom was a wall decorated with hanging logs. Yes. Hanging logs. I know that sounds weird. It looked kind of weird too! But it must have been economical and definitely was thinking outside of the box!

I don't know if I will get J to go back. She tends to like to try new things rather than go back to a place. And I had the better meal of the two of us. But I would go back. I  thought the Next Door Bar and Grill was lovely and recommend it to you!

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!

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!