my city garden........

I'm not a gardener. I know little about it. As a child I grew up with a garden and really took no interest in it. It was just something that my parents did. When I married I moved to the city and never wanted to go back to the country.....ever. Things change though.....and I've changed. Now, I would love to move back to the country, but until that happens I am a city living  'gardener' with a small vegetable patch. I guess I'm coming of age. I have to smile when I write that only because I'm not really sure what that means. I don't consider myself old, but sometimes my ability to embrace a good thing takes a while. Although I have to go easy on myself because I have not had a yard in the city that was able to have a vegetable garden and that was a choice I made. My yard is a perfect picture of beautiful and graceful landscaping and that in itself is very important to me. It is my 'zen' space that feeds my soul. But aahh...... a 'food' garden is a different thing. I have had a passion about good food and cooking for a long, long time and understand the need for us to take care of ourselves in terms of good nutrition. My body knows when it is given good food and performs better with it. My body can 'feel' good food not unlike it can 'feel' bad food. With my involvement in the Community Garden project I am now able to have a small plot of land and grow some of my own food. It is turning out to be more than I ever expected. I am smitten with every bit of it. The small amounts of food that I have already brought home to my table have delighted not only my palette, but also my soul. I tasted our romaine lettuce and it was nothing like the 'store' variety. Last week I brought home the first kohlrabi and to me it was like biting into butter, it was so very tender. I made tasty, tasty pesto last weekend and the color of it was the most divine thing I have seen lately. There is so much to taste and see and smell and experience!! I am truly enjoying the garden more than I would have ever thought. I knew it would be a beneficial experience, but it has turned out to be so much more. 

my first time pesto.....yum!

garlic scapes

I have only just this year been introduced to garlic scapes. I had never heard of them, let alone ever seen them before. I am pretty well versed in culinary terms, but this one had escaped me..excuse the play on words:). My first time using them I simply sauted them with asparagus, but I came across a pesto recipe that I really wanted to try! It is from one of my favorite websites, in fact the same one that I found the strawberry galette on. The recipe was simple.....garlic scapes, basil, parmesan, hazelnuts and olive oil with then salt to taste. I was making lunch for Bri and her friend and decided this might be a great thing to serve along with some homemade sausage and grilled ciabatta bread. So I went ahead and chopped the scapes, tore the basil and grated the parm.....add to that the olive oil and toasted hazelnuts and it was terrific!! I can't wait to try it with maybe walnuts or even the standard pine nuts. So another great new endeavor in my recipe collection! Oh how I do love to cook........and entertain with good food!

Life is a banquet and today mine served up garlic scape pesto!





how beautiful is that!!

Buon appetito!!