local vegetation

I was outside admiring the ginormous daisies growing next to my patio and decided a garden update was in order.

The daisies are huge, about 4 1/2 feet tall:

And here's the view looking up as they tower over me (well, not really, I'm not that short).

Oh, and this is nothing short of a miracle: my hydrangea has bloomed for the first time in the five years since I planted it!

And speaking of flowers, the strawberries sprouted more blossoms and the makings of another batch of fruit.

That rhubarb we planted in the spring has also taken off! My mother in law says I should harvest it, but the instructions the nursery sent with it said no harvesting in the first year. Any opinions on that? Can I safely steal a few stalks for a pie?

My raspberries are starting to ripen, but I don't think we'll have the deluge that my mom has to deal with. I ate this one:

Lastly, and most disappointingly are the tomatoes. I was so excited for this year. We built new beds specifically sited to work better for the tomatoes. I didn't overcrowd when planting and put in special tomato fertilizer. Then we had oh, let's see, roughly 8 weeks of rain. Needless to say my plants are again suffering from foliar disease brought on by too much moisture. But there are a few fruits on there, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Looks like I'll be able to eat my first two cherry tomatoes in a couple days.

our new home in cyberspace

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted. I don't have a good reason, but here are my excuses:

1. We were on vacation and I was avoiding my laptop like the plague;
2. This week has been really busy;
3. Tim managed to catch swine flu (or some variation thereof); and
4. I've been working on moving my blog over from TypePad to Blogger (which is requiring some painfully manual cleanup and reformatting for each post).

So in the future, you can find this blog here, at the following address: http://goingbonanas.blogspot.com/. Update those bookmarks!

I've also redirected the feed to the new site for readers who are subscribed. This way, if you are using a feed reader, it should continue to work but point to the new site.

I hope to blog about our vacation soon, so stay tuned!

cape cod here we come

Tomorrow morning we leave for a week on Cape Cod. This will be our 5th trip to the Cape. It is so serene and beautiful. The girls love the beach and we are big fans of the uber fresh lobster, oysters, cod, and other seafood available there. This year I'm going to try my hand at cooking fresh seafood purchased from the local fish markets. Live lobsters in the fridge is always a hoot.

Here's a shot we took during our trip last year looking out across a tidal marsh on the ocean side.

Ahhh.... I can feel the stress melting away already.

comfort on a plate

This was dinner tonight:

You're thinking, "So what? It's just pasta." But really, this is no ordinary pasta. It's linguine with the most delicious basic tomato sauce you've ever had. Comfort on a plate. The recipe is from Marcella Hazan who is regarded by many as the mother of Italian cooking in America. If you've never made it, plan on it for tomorrow. Really. Tomorrow. The beauty is in its simplicity, and most surprisingly for a tomato sauce, the liberal use of butter.

I almost always have the ingredients on hand (28 oz can of whole or crushed tomatoes, butter, salt, 1 onion, pasta) which makes it a go-to meal for us when I'm pressed for time or energy. Marcella Hazan's basic tomato sauce recipe can be found all over the web. Here is a link if you need one.

is it bedtime yet?

Today was the first day of practice Kindergarten for Mira. The school brings incoming Kindergartners in for a week during the summer to ride the bus and participate in a morning program at the school to help ease the transition in the fall.

Mira has been asking to ride the school bus since she started talking roughly three and a half years ago. So you can imagine how excited she was when the bus actually stopped at our house this morning. She was ready to hop right into her seat when the school principal (who was on the bus helping the bus driver) had to remind her to stop and turn around so I could snap a quick photo.

She got back home just before lunchtime and began asking if it was bedtime yet. She was asking not because she was tired (although, she was pretty tired), but because she was so eager to get back to riding the bus and attending school the next morning. Let's hope she remains this committed to her education for the next 17 years or so.

smitty's in lockhart

Spent another long week working in Austin. Friday after we finished our morning meetings, we had a bit of time (well, six hours to be precise) before our flight home. To kill a few hours, Susanne and I decided to take a little food adventure to a small town about 20 miles south of the airport called Lockhart.

Several internet sources said there is really great 'cue in Lockhart (referred to as the "BBQ Capitol of Texas") and the foodies online highly recommended a place called Smitty's. We followed our noses to some of the best barbecue we've ever tasted (and Susanne lives in North Carolina, so that's saying something).

First thing we saw in the parking lot was this smoke stack.

If it weren't for the sweltering Texas weather, we could have lingered outside and just smelled the other-worldly smoky goodness coming from that chimney and been satisfied. But we walked in, and just inside the door on the right was this:It was a balmy 104 outside, and dang was this fire screamin' hot. I don't know how these people survive this job.

Maybe the promise of unbelievably tasty bbq keeps them going in the sweltering heat. You order in the pit room and the meat is pulled out of the pits and carved on the spot. Our food was piled onto a stack of butcher paper, which we were informed was our "plate". We carried our big pile of meat in the paper with the edges crimped like a sling. We sat down in the adjacent eatin' room (dining room just doesn't fit this situation) and dug in (with our hands, of course). Doesn't that look delicious?

Well, it may not be glamorous but it was some of the best stuff I've ever eaten. Amazingly tender melt-in-your-mouth richness. We ordered ribs, sausage and brisket and it was all spectacular. The food was surely boosted by the unique ambiance, which is not to be missed if you are ever in Austin. I'll probably be back there at the end of August and I'm definitely making time to return to Smitty's.

uchi

Phew! That was a long week. I spent it working in Austin. Well, mostly working anyway. We did manage to eat some good meals and the best one was at Uchi. We had a to wait a while for a table, but it was worth it. Not being professionals at sushi or Japanese cuisine, we needed some help from our waiter to choose. Here are a few photos. They are a bit grainy since I didn't want to use my flash in the middle of the restaurant.

On the left was tuna and on the right was salmon. It was delicious, but just the beginning.

Our waiter brought us this dish on the house. It was so good. It had smoked yellowtail with yucca chips, asian pear, marcona almonds and a few other things. Yum.

We each sampled bites of each others' entrees and every plate was outstanding. I ordered a wagyu beef short rib dish that was unbelievably good. Then I finished my meal with a peanut butter semifreddo served with pear sorbet. Oh my.

I'm headed back to Austin this week and we've already planned a return trip to Uchi. Amazing food.