Each Little World

Market madness

My garden is still mostly green with the majority of leaves on the trees. My neighborhood is the same. It's at the Farmers Market that the explosion of fall color is most obvious. The beans are still green as is the leafy produce. But the only green tomatoes are zebra-striped while the peppers are shading into red. The pies are changing from peach to apple. And everywhere are the solid, round shapes of fall produce: shallots, cabbage, apples, and beets. Everthingis jewel-like, whether we're talking carrots or berries or blooms. The transition from September to October is marked with the last dramatic burst of color; a bouquet of rainbow hues.

Lovely, lazy Labor Day weekend

SHE SAID: To be honest, it's only a lazy holiday weekend for some of us. He worked the opening UW-Madison football game Saturday and his regular shifts on Sunday and Monday. I, on the other hand, was home basking in three days of glorious weather. On Saturday, I weeded, watered and deadheaded. 

On Sunday, we were both treated to this gorgeous brunch — a testament to the bounty of Madison's Farmers Market, our hosts would profess. True, I'd say. But equally a testament to their ability to combine textures and flavors, hot and cold, sweet and spicy. And to invite the perfect guests — our former neighbors from our first house and now our friends' neighbors. 

This extravagant meal was served up on colorful linens, using an assortment of patterned and plain, white and bright china. It began with juice and coffee and bubbly to drink while we walked around the garden, inhaling the fragrance of the last roses of summer and checking the progress of the chipmunks vs. our friends' veggie garden. 

We admired the new patio and then got down to business — eating and talking — which kept us busy for the next 4+ hours. As if this wasn't enough of a generous sharing of nature's bounty, we left their house with two huge bags of needles gathered from beneath their big white pine tree. That means I can redo the paths in the Sacred Grove at my leisure, with more than enough needles to make them soft and silent once again.

Inspiration: Dana Slatkin

If you've ever strolled the beaches of Santa Monica in southern California, it's an unforgettable experience. Which is why I cracked open a copy of Dana Slatkin's "The Summertime Anytime Cookbook." Slatkin's family own Shutters on the Beach, a very posh spa and hotel that is one of the most noteworthy sights on the beach and the source of the recipes in the book. I didn't expect it, but Slatkin (below) has some very substantial chops when it comes to the kitchen. So it was probably a foregone conclusion that she'd write a cookbook.

DANA SLATKIN/BEVERLY HILLS FARMGIRL/used without permission

I have a number of great summer cookbooks and, I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much from Slatkin. My first reaction to a woman who was instrumental in starting the Beverly Hills Farmers Market is to ask whether that's an oxymoron and then laugh or dismiss her. But I was smitten by Slatkin who noted in the book that "life at the beach revolves around the weather." And then went on to divide her chapters and meals by weather: "Sunny Days," "Cloudy Days," "Balmy Nights," "Stormy Nights" and "Misty Mornings." No matter where you live, we all experience those conditions and can thus take advantage of Slatkin's inspirational and philosophical tidbits.  

Shutters on the Beach is a dreamy and drop-dead gorgeous hotel (above); but Slatkin's dishes are fresh, realistic and beautiful. And her recipes have quirky and inventive touches but are not overly difficult or fancy — as befits a book about summer/beach cuisine. One of Slatkin's recipes is for Roasted Chicken Breasts with Smoky Lentils — lentils that are spiced up with smoked salt and bacon. I could live on lentils, so I just made my regular recipe but with Slatkin's additions which took the dish from delish to memorable.  

As she demonstrated with the lentil dish, Slatkin's skill lies in taking many familiar, staple summer foods and often just adding a splash and a dash that turn them into something special, like French green beans with lemon, garlic AND ginger. I'm a ginger fanatic so Slatkin's recipe for Lemon Ginger Cookies (with both ground and crystalized ginger) may be enough to make this book a must buy for me!

Slatkin also has a blog — The Beverly Hills Farmgirl — where you can read about where she's shopping, and her take on 90210 style as well as peruse a number of recipes from the book. You can also order "The Summertime Anytime Cookbook: Recipes from Shutters on the Beach" on Slatkin's site or from Amazon. (Full disclosure: And if you live in Madison, you can also find a copy at Orange Tree Imports — which is where I work and how I discovered Slatkin's book!)

To market, to market

Woke to the sound of thunder Saturday morning, and before I'd even managed to make a pot of coffee, the sky let loose with a cloudburst. That put an end to my plan to hit the outdoor Westside Farmers Market in my neighborhood. Instead I watched it pour and sent Mark out to capture the garden between showers. 

A week ago Saturday found me on the Capitol Square at the opening moments of the first Dane County Farmer's Market of the season. It is the big planet around which all the other regional farmers markets orbit. I went looking for herbs since I am not a seed-starting kind of girl. Came home with a beautiful variegated pineapple mint, two plants of large-leaved Genovese basil (perfect for pesto), one Thai basil, one small-leaved spicy basil (it grows like a mini boxwood) and one of the basils with decorative reddish-purple leaves. And the basics: curly parsley, Italian flat-leaf parsley and cilantro.

Could not find the Tiger Eye violas that I went in search of, but came home with these "Midnight Sun" charmers instead (in the back corner of the basket). Also got some smaller Sorbet strain in similar tones, called "Babyface Ruby and Gold" (front basket corner). I'm thinking about planting them near some Gold-Laced Black Primulas to contrast the informality of the pansies with the structured form of the primroses, linked by the similarity of color. 

But first it has to stop raining. The poor pansies and herbs have been on the deck all week waiting for the rain to stop and the ground to dry out a bit. That had just about happened when the rain cycle began again Saturday morning. The evening brought thunder, lightening and hail; my rain gauge showed two inches by Sunday morning. We're in the midst of a swirling system of storms that are expected to last through Monday night. At the same time, the rain and the warmer temps have the garden greening and growing at an amazing rate. So, I'm enjoying the progress even if I can't get outdoors to plant.