Thursday, July 11, 2013

Zucchini in the Salad

I have been spending a lot of time at Orchard House every chance I get. I am trying to prepare the property for either a sale or a rental, and it looks as if we may have found a good tenant. Meanwhile, as I spend time there, I notice all the beautiful flowers.




Some of the flowers are the result of meticulous and effective landscaping by the owners who preceded me. Although nobody is tending them, the flowers come out every year, each at its appointed time and station. Some were placed there by design.


Others are wild and spring up unbidden in the woods.


First I spot them as a flash of color from afar.


Then I come in closer for a better look.


If you look very closely at some flowers, you can actually see the pollen spilling out.


Pollen is a feast for insects. Eating alone at Orchard House, as it was my day off, I spread out my own  feast.



Lunch consisted of a peach, some cherry tomatoes, blackberries and fried chicken.


With it, I had club soda in a can. The food was good and better out in the open than it would have been inside.


The blackberries were fresh picked from the Orchard House grounds.


Later in the day I went to visit musician and piano and voice teacher Jill Dabney. She is helping me with the music for the Debt Collector. Before I left, she gave me some zucchini from her garden. This pretty much determined what sort of salad Bow and I would have with our supper.


First I sliced the zucchini. Then I added tomatoes, sugar snap peas and cauliflower.


Then I generously sprinkled on sesame seed oil.


When the salad was ready, I presented it to Bow.


Bow enjoyed the salad, though the zucchini was not necessarily his favorite vegetable of the bunch.




4 comments:

  1. I could be wrong, but the one with pointly leaves and the pointy petals looks like a thistle flower, or at least similar. I love zucchini, and it is great in salad. The nice thing about living in the country is many people have gardens, and people give each other fruits and vegetables. We do have a bit of that here with people bringing us oranges, and the unexpected apples the other day. I just remember on a visit to Kansas how this was more prevalent, and my step-grandmother got this delicious corn some lady had grown in her garden. It was the best corn I have ever had.

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    1. Yes, I agree it's a thistle. I think it might be a milk thistle:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_thistle

      I love it that people give each other fruits and vegetables here. I am planning on sharing my pears when they ripen with the Dabneys. I think it is easier to give each other things of value this way, because we did not get them from the store, and they don't necessarily translate to cash.

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  2. Very nice Aya! We also have tons of garden veggies right now and are enjoying them!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Audrey. It's the season for garden fresh vegetables. Enjoy!

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