Potluck Dish…

I wanted a nice, simple vegetarian and gluten-free side dish for my weekend get-together and my very best friend shared a recipe she found and adapted.  It is so simple and yummy that I may keep it as my “go to” potluck dish…Originally called “Wild and Nutty Rice”…she made it with quinoa…a gluten free grain…

…so I guess I’ll call it “Wild and Nutty Quinoa”…

First cook 16oz. of quinoa according to the package…it cooks a lot like couscous…

 

 

 

It looks a little like couscous too ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…

 

 

While that is cooling,  lightly toast about 1 and 1/3 cups of sliced almonds…nothing exact here…

 

 

…

 

 

The recipe next says to add 1 and 1/3 cups of raisins but I had some wonderful dark, chewy apricots from Trader Joe’s…not the soft mushy kind that stores seem to think everyone likes now… so I chopped some up to raisin size…

…and combined them with golden raisins…

…then slice a bunch of scallions…

…. get the zest and juice from one large orange…and 3 Tablespoons of olive oil..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and combine everything  together…

So simple…and I bet it tastes good made with the rice too…

Feline Aids…

…is something I never heard of until yesterday.  My ten year old cat, Miss Sally, seemed to have a red watery eye all weekend , which I ignored due to a house full of guests…and Sally tends to hide when we have guests.  Tuesday I got an appointment at the vets and Sally was diagnosed with feline uveitis…an inflammation inside the eye.  The question that now needs to be answered is why did she develop this infection…A battery of tests were taken and today I heard that my cat tested positive for Feline immunodeficiency virus.   Tomorrow I talk to the vet again…

…Today I am having fun hiding pills in sardines and putting eye drops in eyes…

First Sail of the Year…

Usually I manage to go out with Mr O for my first sail on our sailboat sometime in early June…Not this year though…This year it was too cold and rainy to go out until July…

A few days earlier we had some help getting the boat ready….

…And after a sail? or even a non-sail?…naps, lobster rolls,  and ice cream…

Queen Anne’s Lace…

Legend has it that Queen Anne, the wife of King James I,  was challenged by her friends to create lace as beautiful as a flower.  While making the lace, she pricked her finger, and it’s said that the purple-red flower in the center of Queen Anne’s Lace represents a droplet of her blood.  In reality this spot attracts insects… It was  interesting to discover that if the cut stems of this flower are placed in colored water the white florets will absorb it…much like carnations do…I will have to try it someday to impress the grandchildren…

This is one wild-flower that has always been ubiquitous in my area…maybe over-looked …but always a sign of summer for me.  Thanks to a summer library booksale I came across this William Carlos Williams poem…

 

…

 

Queen-Ann’s-Lace

by William Carlos Williams

 

Her body is not so white as

anemony petals nor so smooth – nor

so remote a thing.  It is a field

of the wild carrot taking

the field by force; the grass

does not raise above it.

Here is no question of whiteness,

white as can be, with a purple mole

at the center of each flower.

Each flower is a hand’s span

of her whiteness.  Wherever

his hand has lain there is

a tiny purple blemish.  Each part

is a blossom under his touch

to which the fibres of her being

stem one by one, each to its end,

until the whole field is a

white desire, empty, a single stem,

a cluster, flower by flower,

a pious wish to whiteness gone over -

or nothing.

27…

Happy Birthday to my youngest…Mrs. R…

 

 

 

From 1982…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…to 2009…

 

 

 

How quickly these 27 years have gone by…how much has happened in these years…how proud I am of my beautiful, accomplished,  adult daughter…here’s to you my dear!

And to Mr. R  who had a birthday two days earlier….

The Fish Tale Diner…

The Fish Tale Diner…on the Merrimack River in Salisbury,  Mass…is a beautiful old wooden diner that is fortunately still in use and just across the river from the city my sister lives in…In  beautiful weather we sat on the deck overlooking the river…but I love it just as much indoors in the warm wooden interior…

 

The ceilings are curved, the booths still have juke boxes with push buttons, and the breakfasts are yummy…

 

 

…If you’re too late for breakfast I can highly recommend their fish chowder…I thought it was the perfect thing to eat while sitting under an umbrella watching the ducks and the river traffic…

   

 

…I love coming here with my sister…

Simple Pleasures…

Simple summer things I’m loving…

• black-eyed susans
• a sunny day!
• the smell of warm strawberries
• goldfish pretzels
• New Yorker magazines
• Campari and soda
• Grandchildren hugs
• Watching the Red Sox win or lose
• Sitting in the dark with the smell of honeysuckle and watching fireflies
• Adam Lambert on American Idol
• Switching from a charcoal grill to a gas grill
• Adirondack chairs..old or new
• watermelon and feta and mint together
• farmer’s markets and flea markets
• the solid feel of my little camera
• sailing with Mr O on Little Narragansett Bay

Thanks to Christina of SoulAperture for hosting a Simple Things day which started me thinking about this list…I’m sure it will get longer…

Just Rain…

After three gloriously sunny days we are back to rain, thunder-storms, and chill…I was feeling rather glum about it, rather mildewy around the edges, when I read this while I was browsing in a bookstore, escaping from a sudden squall…

Just Rain by Mary Oliver

The clouds

  did not say

    soon, but who can tell

      for sure, it wasn’t

the first time I had been

  fooled; the sky-doors

    opened and

      the rain began

to fall upon all of us: the

  grass, the leaves,

    my face, my shoulders

      and the flowered body

of the pond where

  it made its soft

    unnotational

      music on the pond’s

springy surface, and then

  the birds joined in and I too

    felt called toward such

      throat praise. Well,

the whole afternoon went on

  that way until I thought

    I could feel

      the almost born things

in the earth rejoicing. As for myself,

  I just kept walking, thinking:

    once more I am grateful

      to be present.

Her book “Evidence” went home with me…

A Busy Weekend…

A few images from a busy Independence Day…and my sister’s 60th birthday…should I tell?

The day was celebrated at my sister’s house with family and friends…lobster and cake…Except for one nephew, all in our two families were there for a picture…How hard it is to get 11 people to look good at one time!

The 4th of July…

Circa 1931…My mother is 2 1/2 years old and these are some of the few photos we have of her as a child…I’m still not sure why she is dressed up as Uncle Sam…I hope my sister remembers!

.
..
...

…

Happy 4th of July!

Rainy Day Lunch…

While there were severe thunderstorms and flooding in RI, I was in Newburyport taking my sister and cousin to a birthday luncheon which turned out just fine in the rain…

You can see me taking the picture if you look close enough…

…

 

 

 

 

The table was chosen for the view…and the wine was chosen for the label…

 

 

 

 

 

…

I gave them photo books of our winter trip to Florida…

 

 

 

 

…

My cousin kindly took this photo of my sister and me…bundled up as though it was autumn instead of the first day of July!

The view was damp but beautiful…

Foggy with light rain…

A good day for ducks and dinners…