StyleNectar

kitty

Our sweet, gray kitty passed away at 5:30 am last night, sleeping between us in our bed.  She spent the last 3 weeks of her life, following a stroke, tucked into her favorite basket, being toted around with us wherever we went. It's what she wanted and she was incredibly happy, blessing us with her beautiful, loud purring 'til the very last day of her life.  We told her stories and walked down memory lane 3 times daily while feeding her favorite pureed "Pumpkin Jack Splash" via syringe.  She wore an extra small baby diaper with a hole cut out for her tail, but she was mostly quite good at letting us know when to take her down to her box... on the four occasions of exception, she handled 4 baths & a blow dry very well:) Although she wasn't able to walk these 3 weeks, she thoroughly accepted the situation with the amazing spirit and love we've always known. We love you kitty. Thank you for blessing us with your sweet perfection for the last 13 years. You'll be part of us forever.

Until Next Time, Nantucket ~ Part II

As promised, a few more snaps to share with you from one of our favorite places in the world, Nantucket Island.

(As always, click images for a better, larger view)

View Until Next time, Nantucket ~ Part I 

You may also enjoy: Lobster Rolls, it's Summertime!

Until Next Time, Nantucket ~ Part I

It's been a few weeks since my last post because we've been away on vacation. In addition to sharing a few vaca snaps with you, I have a delicious new recipe you'll love for a Chilled French Carrot Soup with Lemon-buttered Farfalle which I'll share in my next post.

Our vacation was spent in beloved Chatham, Mass (Cape Cod) and Nantucket, a part of the world where the weather is always mild and the sunlight ever clear and bright.  We adore the salty sea breezes, beautiful sandy beaches and silver, cedar shingled houses covered in climbing pink roses with hydrangeas galore and the lushest of English gardens.

We biked and we hiked, Jim fly fished and I sketched (lot's of material for upcoming paintings!). We strolled lazily through beautiful art galleries, window shopped and frequented The Bean (our favorite Nantucket coffee house) a couple times a day. Dining on Nantucket is absolutely fabulous. So much so that we simply allowed ourselves to steep in the romance of beautiful, fresh flavors and wonderful ambiance rather than bothering to photo-document it all. Just a few of our favorites are Company of the Cauldron, Oran Mor, Pearl, Lola 41  and Toppers. All amazing.

Meanwhile, miles away back at the home front, our garden was going into overdrive, providing us a bounty of fresh produce to help keep us light and cool for the hot, steamy weather that welcomed us home (think 95+ and high humidity).  Jim brought in beans, peas, jalapenos, ruby beets, herbs and gorgeous baby collards, red leaf lettuce, beet greens and nasturtiums (DELISH in salads) plus six pounds of beautiful baby French carrots... I'm sure I'm forgetting some things too!

Our abundance of carrots resulted in a delicious Chilled French Carrot Soup with Lemon-buttered Farfalle I'll share in my next post...  The perfect, light meal for this hot, steamy weather.

~

Nantucket and Chatham Snapshots ~ Part I

Stay tuned... I'll be sharing a few more snaps with you soon!

(As always, click images for a better, larger view)

Bye for now... I'll be sharing a few more snaps with you soon!

PS. Check out StyleNectar's convenient Recipe Index!

Spring Spinach Pesto + a few Garden Snaps

Pesto has always been a special favorite of mine... as though its ingredients were terribly rare or difficult to prepare... it's that luxuriously delicious.  Fortunately, as pre-packaged versions don't at all measure up to homemade, it's quite simple to make.  Pesto can be customized to whatever is in season- or growing in your garden as the case is with me- nothing needs to be measured precisely... all you need is a trusty food processor and you're ready to go.

Last weekend Jim harvested a TON of fresh spinach from our garden, half of which I boxed into leftover stay-fresh spinach boxes I'd saved from the market (for our delicious morning green smoothie) the other half I made into an amazing Spring Garden Spinach & Chive Pesto.  I absolutely LOVE spinach pesto -even better than basil or arugula versions.  I made a large enough batch that we couldn't use it all immediately so I froze the bulk in ice-cube trays then popped the cubes into a ziplock freezer baggie.  Great trick!  Now we have Spring Pesto on hand whenever we need it- which er, seems to be every day suddenly...

Slathered on sandwiches

Tossed with a beautiful pasta

Starring in a to-die-for potato salad

Smeared on country bread topped with Mozzarella di Bufala

Tossed with grilled vegetables... 

Jim... I think it's time to harvest the rest of that spinach!  We're already running low on our Spring Pesto supply:)

Below, I thought I'd share a few bonus snaps (please click them to enlarge for better, larger view) from the garden which is more and more breathtaking by the day!  We've been enjoying collard greens, spinach, radishes and herbs so far this Spring with lots more on the way... purple potatoes, fingerlings, peas, carrots, beets, squash, melon, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers & eggplant!  My husband has created the most magnificent world of beauty just outside our kitchen door.

Spring Garden Spinach & Chive Pesto frozen in ice-cube trays & popped into a freezer baggie!  

Spring Garden Spinach & Chive Pesto

Ingredients:

• 8 cups fresh spinach packed (or substitute arugula, flat leaf parsley or basil)
• 1 cup fresh chopped chives (to help food processor out a bit)
• 3/4 of a cup of TOASTED walnuts and pinenuts (or substitute your favorite combo of nuts- but definitely toast them!)
• freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or substitute Pecorino or Asiago)
• 2 or 3 cloves garlic coarsley chopped (to assist food processor)
  
• juice of 1/2 lemon- or an entire lemon- suit your taste- provides a beautiful freshness
  
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil- or more to create desired texture
• sea salt to taste
• fresh cracked pepper to taste- just a wee bit

Method:

1. Pulse the greens and chives together in your food processor until the bulk of the spinach is reduced greatly. 
2. Add the toasted nuts, cheese, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and pulse until you achieve a desirable texture.
3. Season with sea salt and a WEE bit of fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

The Land of Spinach

Deep within the Land of Spinach

Empty Spinach rows following Jim's record holding Spinach harvest... no worries, there is more growing to the right of this photo.

"Big Red", Jim's trusty wheelbarrow

Beet Greens

The Land of Beets

The Land of Carrots

Deep within the Land of Carrots

Purple Potato Blossoms ~ yes, the potatoes will be purple too!

Baby Peppers growing up near the gorgeous Land of Beets

The Land of Swiss Chard

Sun-drenched Pea

What are your favorite Springtime veggies?

Are you growing anything edible in your yard this year?

First Spring Harvest ~ Crisp, Cool Radishes!

The secret?

Store your radishes in a mason jar of cold water in the fridge where they'll last for weeks!

Crisp

Vibrant

Fresh

As beautiful to the tastebuds as they are to behold.

A delicious refrigerator snack ~ healthy, refreshing & cold!

 Thank you my sweet Jim.

What are your gardening plans this year?

after hours

 

Soon they'll be asleep.

The house will be ours.

Nothing off limits.

No place we can't scour.

We'll stampede cross the wood floors as fast as we can.

And yowl like coyotes awake after ten.

From lands far and near we'll hunt down precious gifts.

Before morn' there'll be a mousie and twisty-tie blitz. 

At first sign of light we'll take up our posts,

Performing purrs, trills and tricks to fill up our bowls.

We'll see you next time, maybe daytime you say?

Certainly!

Another fun time to play!