What's Cookin' ?

There's plenty to eat at our house. A mockingbird has been guarding our persimmon tree, but that doesn't stop the cheeky squirrels. Our little cat Smog races up the tree after the squirrel, but she ignores him. Who's to say where "brave" ends and "foolish" begins. Those persimmons sure are tasty.




Our lemon tree is just starting to ripen. Unlike most fruits, citrus "keeps" on the tree really well. We'll have fruit for months.




When we first moved here, Robb built the Little House for the feral cats. He wanted to give them a dry shelter during the winter rains. It is a favorite napping spot, rain or shine.




We're harvesting fennel. I've learned my lesson, and am cutting it when it is young and tender. If I wait for my plants to get as big as grocery-store fennel, they are invariably tough and inedible. Robb made an oven-braised fennel and then finished it under the broiler with a bit of deliciously stinky cheese. I'm still thinking about that dish...




A friend from my handspinning guild hosted a holiday party on her houseboat, and handed out all sorts of amazing goodies. I'm now the proud owner of eighty year old sourdough, and a whole variety of dye plants. We've been having a bit of a pancake orgy this past week.




Robb has also been baking pies. This is an unbaked persimmon tart, made with (home made) almond paste. Insanely delicious.




And these are some slices of home made veggie pot pies. Yesterday was beautiful and clear, and Robb and I worked out in the garden for something like six hours. I re-worked a lot of our vegetable garden, and moved poorly-placed plants to better locations. Robb worked on what's going to be our chicken coop.

I suspect that when people at work ask me what I did over the Christmas break, they won't understand why I was so happy to spend most of our time at home, cooking and gardening. Oh well...it sure made us happy.