Dealing with the garden, part 2

You know the garden situation is getting out of hand when you turn down an invitation from friends to go out for dinner because you *must* *keep* *eating* *salads*.

Really, really good salads.

But today for lunch I made a zucchini frittata with one of the (er, many) garden zucchinis. Thanks to my friend Vicki Rowland for the idea!

Zucchini Frittata

Ingredients

  • about a half of a medium onion, sliced thin and then roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • Olive oil, for sauteing
  • 1 medium zucchini, * thinly sliced into rounds
  • about half a red pepper, thinly sliced into rounds and then roughly chopped (quartered, perhaps)
  • a bunch of chopped herbs from the garden: oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil
  • 6 eggs
  • a tablespoon or two of milk
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan
  • 1/2 cup grated mozzarella

Ingredient note: 

* Our “medium” zucchini is equivalent to someone else’s “large” zucchini. Our large zucchini can be used for batting practice.

Directions

Preheat the broiler.

If you haven’t already thinly sliced the zucchini and the red pepper, I’d suggest using a mandoline. It’s really fast and easy!

Heat the olive oil in a medium nonstick saute pan on the stove. Add the onion and saute till transparent. Add the garlic. Saute for a short time and then add the herbs, the sliced zucchini, and the sliced red pepper. Cook until the zucchini is tender, but not cooked through, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Blend eggs in a blender with a little bit of milk and some salt and pepper.

Pour the egg mixture into saute pan and let it sit for a minute or three, or until there isn’t much loose egg left in the pan, or until you don’t want to cook the bottom any more without cooking the top too. Add grated Parmesan and mozzarella on top, and place pan in the broiler for a minute or two–until the top is beautifully brown.

Take pan out of broiler, let it cool and set in the pan for 5 minutes. When cool invert a plate on top of pan and turn over. Take photographs (alas, I didn’t–but I should have!). Slice and serve.

The problem with the garden these days

Since there’s not enough sunny garden area around our house for growing vegetables, that’s what we use the community garden for. And again this year, we’ve been lucky enough to be given one of the unclaimed plots as well. Despite this wealth of sunny land, we had to pack things kind of close in order to fit in everything we wanted to grow: tomatoes and cucumbers, of course; arugula, basil, peppers, eggplants, broccoli, zucchini (that space hog!), and this year kohlrabi and beans. A lot to grow in a limited space, and let’s just say that it’s our own private jungle out there. The vegetable jungle.

And it’s finally that wonderful time of year when the tomatoes are ripening. I am eating two tomatoes a day–two wonderful, sweet, homegrown garden tomatoes–and I’m falling behind.

Can you see the problem? The bowl on the right contains yesterday’s harvest. The one in front, the day before. The one on the left, the old ones we have to use up first.

Tomato salad for dinner, anyone?

 

The Road: the movie

Just finished watching the movie The Road, based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. My friend Terry Grignon recommended this movie in his blog some time ago, but I kind of put off seeing it because (1) I read the book and loved it and was devastated for a long time after that; and (2) Dan doesn’t like depressing movies.

But Cormac McCarthy is probably my favorite of all living American writers, so the movie couldn’t be put off forever.  And then of course the movie, like the book, like all things Cormac McCarthy, exists on many different levels, and not all of them are devastating.

So Dan left after about twenty minutes of watching grim and grimmer, and I didn’t argue. There were times I wanted to leave, too. But then there were the times that (despite the feeling I was watching the Viewers’ Digest condensed version) Cormac McCarthy’s fine writing shown through. The total love of the man for the boy illuminated the entire movie–as it did the book. And the boy’s inherent goodness.

One thing I got from Save the Cat! is that the theme should be stated in something like the first ten pages (minutes?). And there it was: The man says in voice over: “If [the boy] is not the Word of God, then God never spoke.”
Oh, beautiful!

Views near Golden Grove

Sunset, May 31.

Another long near-solstice day. When you’re this far north, sunset takes a long time. Which gives the photographer many views and angles to choose from, lots of photos to take, and abiding gratitude that she no longer has to pay for film.

7pm

 

8pm

Views near Golden Grove

The other night I couldn’t get to sleep. I had been writing, or thinking about writing, and a scene between two of my characters was simmering in my mind, spiced with some emotional component that had me alert and deeply engaged. So after maybe an hour of lying in bed, I got up to take an acetaminophen, hoping to relax enough to sleep.

The moon was shining in through the skylight, surrounded by clouds in dizzying patterns. There would be no sleep for me while this remained unphotographed.

This is the part where a camera with more pixel-depth would have helped. Or at least a tripod. But perhaps this photo will give you a small idea of the magic of that moonlight.

Views near Golden Grove

I love these long days near the summer solstice. We sleep less. “Late afternoon” means 6pm, and the light is spun silver; the water is shining mercury.

May 27th. We wrap up a day of work around the house and go for a quick ride into town. Silver light turns the Great Salt Pond into magic.

 

Views near Golden Grove

Roses!

The island is swimming in rosa rugosa. Mounds and masses of them line Corn Neck Road near Crescent Beach. Each flower is a gem.

    

The breeze blowing up the island past our house smells like heaven. Like a room full of roses, but it’s the outside air. We throw open all the windows.

 

Views near Golden Grove

May 18, 2012. After a day of hard work (by Dan; me, I’m still writing) we get to play mojitos-on-the-deck redux. Another clear day, another gorgeous sunset. Today, though, there are fewer clouds, so the sun sails out of the sky round and even and glittering in the water.

 

 

Views near Golden Grove

May 17, 2012. We get to spend our 32nd anniversary on the island. Mojitos on the deck watching the sun shimmer out of the clouds and set full and red. It’s north of the lighthouse now. Official sunset time: 8:01. Official reservation time at the Spring House: 8:15. Great location, great drinks, great sunset, great meal.

Happy anniversary, Dan, my partner, my friend, my love!