First Harvest

I’ve had my first harvest from my balcony garden: radishes! Specifically, they were Easter Egg II radishes, and they were delicious! I ate them sliced thinly in a green salad, and they were just perfect: crisp, with a nice firey edge to them. Everything a radish should be. I immediately put some more seeds in! There are other signs of progress in my container garden. Lots of the herbs are close to being ready for harvest: parsley, dill, cilantro, thyme, and chervil. Lots of others are green and growing. There are also signs of flowers, although none of them have actually opened yet (perhaps tomorrow?): black cherry tomatoes, Morning Glory, and Sweet Peas all look very close to actually flowering. I’m particularly excited about the black cherry tomatoes. They’re an heirloom that I scored in a swap with one of my labmates, and I’m sure they’re going to be very tasty!

Stamped Cookies

A while ago Mum and I got enthusiastic about cookie stamps. The inspiration was a recipe in Silk Road Cooking – a book that I’ve borrowed from the library, given to Mum, and currently have on order for myself. The recipe in Silk Road Cooking (if I remember correctly) is for Date and Walnut Scones (or something similar). It’s basically these little pillow-like cookies, stuffed with a date and walnut – kind of like a Fig Newton. Really, the thing that’s most appealing about these cookie/scones, is that they have a stamp imprinted in the top. Mum and I decided that we needed to be able to re-create this effect. Some research revealed that what we needed was a cookie stamp, and that the nicest ones available were in America.

I offered to order a couple of cookie stamps and to send one to Mum for Mothers’ Day and keep one for myself. Mum agreed to this without too much pressure from me. I chose Elizabeth’s Crown for Mum (her name is Elizabeth, after all) and Leaf Blossom for myself. This evening, I decided to try mine out. Because I’m still waiting to receive my copy of Silk Road Cooking, I used a shortbread recipe that came with the stamp. The stamps also come with helpful instructions on how to use them, and I can report that they’re not joking when they stress the importance of seasoning the stamp with oil before you use it – once there’s dough stuck in the little groove it’s very hard to get out! However, my shortbread cookies came out very nicely – they taste good, and they have a lovely pattern imprinted into them.

Olivia

Back in April, my school friend Olivia, and her boyfriend Jon were in Boston, and we caught up one evening over Indian food, and then over tea. I don’t know when I’d last seen Olivia – certainly some time when I was an undergraduate, but not since I’ve been in the US – despite the fact that she’s just across the border in Canada. We have kept in touch, though, shooting each other the occasional email, and letting each other know what we’ve been up to, and where we’re living. I was a little apprehensive before I met Olivia in Boston, but the instant I saw her the apprehension vanished. It really was like the past 10 years hadn’t happened. Of course, they had – a good thing, really, as it gave us plenty to talk about. I’d also like to think we’ve grown into more confident self-assured women. I’m not sure how she managed it, but Olivia found a really nice Australian man in Toronto, and Jon is just lovely. I couldn’t have been happier for the two of them when Olivia emailed me earlier this week to let me know that they recently got engaged – they make a great couple.

Summer Sorbets

Here in Boston, we seem to have transitioned directly from winter to summer, with barely a hint of spring. This meant that when I got home to an overheated apartment yesterday evening, I was really glad I’d made Pear & Jasmine Tea Sorbet, a couple of weekends ago – and that there was still some left! I bought an ice-cream maker last summer – and used it a lot then – but over the winter it went unused. Despite having an ice-cream maker, making sorbet still takes quite a while, not because it’s a lot of work, but because you have to let it cool before you put it into the machine. I think, in all my ice-cream making, this was the first time I waited long enough before putting the mixture into the ice-cream maker. I’m just not patient enough. I also have to admit to not serving the sorbet – which, incidentally, is delicious – with fresh lychees (as the recipe suggests). Although they’re delicious, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them in Boston, or that they would particularly fresh if I was to find them. I didn’t use Ya or Nashi pears either, I just used pears that I happened to have on hand. The recipe still worked fine.

Grandma Models Mist

When we last saw Mist, I had finished it, and had packed it off to Australia for my grandmother on the occasion of her 90th birthday. As I predicted, the cardigan didn’t make it to her in time for the Big Day, but it did arrive shortly afterwards – so I’m not a completely terrible grand-daughter.

Of course, when it arrived it was mid-March in Australia, and much too warm to be wearing a cosy warm cardigan, anyway (I tried it on before I put it in the mail – it was warm). However, since then, the weather has cooled down, and Grandma has had reason to wear her new cardigan. The good news? It fits. It keeps her warm. It keeps her looking stylish. The bad news? There is none (phew!).