Tag: nature

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Fresh from the Farmers Market

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{Blueberry crumble muffins with chocolate and almond croissants for breakfast}

Our local farmers market opened today and it was sheer heaven to be able to amble through stalls of unbelievably fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly baked goods along with artisan cheeses and organic meats. The flowers were absolutely gorgeous and I wanted to purchase every bouquet that was situated in the mason jars, but decided to wait for mine to flourish at Heath.

My first purchases were aromatically baked blueberry muffins with almond and chocolate croissants to serve with freshly brewed coffee for breakfast this morning.

Next I was onto the “greens”, which consisted of a huge bunch of mustard greens, spring onions, leeks, asparagus and a few herbs; parsley, cilantro, thyme and rosemary.

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{Several ears of freshly shucked sweet white corn to steam for today’s lunch}

You could get 12 ears of sweet white corn for $2.00 and boy did I dive in for the kill. Steamed corn was definitely on the menu for lunch today. I absolutely love corn with no butter or salt, and to have a bit of room to saw into several ears without question.

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{Fingerlings to go with Sunday’s menu of steak and herb buttered potatoes}

And last, but most certainly not least were the fingerling potatoes that would be perfect for Sunday’s menu. Several of my friends and I from work have been experimenting this past week with herb butters to keep for various evening meals. Cynthia our culinary expert shared her recipes for garlic and shallot herb butters and I cannot wait to try them on either steamed or pan-fried fingerling potatoes.

Garlic Herb Butter
In a mixer combine, a stick of butter, several tablespoons of garlic and about a ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese with a dash of kosher salt. I added a touch of Herbs de Provence and et voila…. herb butter. Portion the mixture into a log using plastic wrap and that which you do not use may be frozen.

Shallot Herb Butter
In the mixer combine, a stick of butter, 1 small shallot, minced, flat-leaf parsley, rosemary and kosher salt with crack black pepper. Blend and form into a log using plastic wrap.

These flavored butters are great with crusty breads, on pan-fried steaks, potatoes or with fresh asparagus. The possibilities are endless!!

Market stylishly,
K

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Cherry Blossoms @ Heath

IMG_1612    IMG_1617The peak blooms for the cherry blossoms on the Tidal Basin in the District of Columbia were on Thursday, April 10th, but the buds on our tree at Heath have just started flowering. We are 28 miles from Washington and at a much higher elevation. Located in the western part of Virginia, this makes the soil conditions and climate drastically different from within the city, and causes our cherry blossoms to mature a few weeks later.

IMG_2803Lately, we have notice community members driving up to our home taking pictures of the tree since, they missed the festivities and the Cherry Blossom Parade in the District. A few of the neighbors will actually get out of their cars to ask if they may photograph the blossoms. But, no matter what your vantage may be while taking pictures of this tree, your photographs are surely going to turn out absolutely gorgeous!

Photograph stylishly,
K