Summertime on a plate

It's officially summer when you get terrific farmers market tomatoes. They are rolling in now. 

These called out for fresh, home-baked white bread and mayo. So I baked a loaf of what we call Mom Bread - the straight ahead white bread that my Mom baked every week when she had kids at home - and then I composed a classic. I mashed half an avocado in there,  too, because this is Southern California after all. Generous with the sea salt.

The tapenade was a Christmas gift that really shines in the warmer months.

The tangerine could have been a peach but the peaches wanted one more day to ripen and that tangerine needed eating. 

All good!

Happy Birthday and have a new crown!

Had a bit of a zero-gravity session today as the dentist put my head down - very low - to remove an old, old crown on the upper right, just in front of my wisdom tooth. 

It was not as bad as my expression suggests. Removal seemed straight forward, if extensive. The temporary crown went in quite smoothly and I was on my way in less than 90 minutes.

I was able to eat a soft lunch of vegetable curry leftovers and a dinner of Jjajangmyeon (Black Bean Noodles with pork belly).

And lemon birthday cake with macerated strawberries.  Yum!

Rolling on to Carlisle

Rode a train from London to Carlisle, where we will lodge for the first two nights of our Hadrian's Wall Path hike. What a landscape! 

After arriving, we had time to visit the Carlisle Cathedral. It's a lovely and homey place with this sweet mosaic.

A day out in London

How cultured are we? 

We visited the British Museum in the morning (and snapped this photo in the Museum Library's Reading Room) 

In the afternoon, we dashed off to the Royal Albert Hall where Maxim Vengerov played Sibelius and the Royal Symphony Orchestra led by Vasily Petrenko delivered a dynamite rendition of Stravinsky's The Firebird. 

Finally in London

For Mary,  it was a quick flight from JFK Airport to London. but it was a long commute from Connecticut to JFK. She made good use of her waiting time visiting museums.

For the California contingent, it was an easy commute to LAX then a looonnnggg flight delay as we waited for a different jet to replace the one taken out of service after we boarded.

We are all happy to be together now. 

Nostalgic Supper

Thinking about Genevieve Jones and her girls this evening. Maybe it's a residual Mothers Day thing.

Genevieve was my grandma. Aunt Twila and my mom, Dorothy Darlene, were her daughters.

Grandma and Twila served homemade noodles with chicken and white beans (a one pot affair). Mom never added the beans, so beans and noodles for lunch at Grandma's house was kind of a treat!

After hiking today, I rummaged in the fridge for dinner and found:

** Poached drumsticks (bones and skin discarded after dinner last night) 

** Chicken stock

** Leftover boiled, lightly seasoned Peruana beans with pot liquor

** A package of udon noodles (a reasonable facsimile of homemade noodles)

This dinner came together with ease and great satisfaction. The noodles were just warmed through rather than cooked in the bean juice and stock so they didn't have that rich chicken flavor but it was a good trade-off. Makes me want to cook the whole meal from scratch next time. And soon!

I wonder if my cousins and siblings make chicken with noodles and beans.

One heroic yucca!

Double - Double

This was the second double yolk egg in the dozen. Lucky!

Sweet peas!

Janet grew them from seeds gifted by Nan.

Beautiful and fragrant. I love the  variegations, so delicate! 

Basil

The seeds I got at the Beverly Hills Farmers Market Earth Day event have sprouted.

I don't think I'll put any farmers out of business but it could be a good crop. 

New on Cashio Street

We often have lizards in the garden. This one looks so young and fresh!

Always happy to see wildlife on the grounds.

Update: Folks who know stuff over on iNaturalist confirm that this is a California Alligator Lizard. I thought so but didn't want to say that out loud without confirmation. 

Lilacs galore

The Weiser Farms stand this morning at the Beverly Hills Farmers Market.

I thought if was a couple of 5 gallon buckets on the table. Then I looked back after I passed around the end of the display. The double row of buckets ran about 10 feet - the whole span of the stall.

Breakfast

Meant to picture this before I started eating, but I tore right in when I sat down. 

A variation on biscuits and gravy. Biscuits with sauted  golden beet greens and red onion, a smear of Greek yogurt, lemon juice and zest, tahini, and garlic, and a lavish amount of za'atar and a bit of salt.

So good!

Weathered but resilient

In the last few days, these poppies stood up to crazy wind and surprise rain. They are celebrating today's perfect spring sunshine.

Me, too.

Spring Greens Pie

Beet greens, spinach, feta, cottage cheese, za'atar all in a pie crust from the freezer.

It was a opportunity to clear a lot of stuff from the refrigerator.  And I'll cook some meatballs from the freezer, too.

Practice

I'm getting ready for a journey. I want to carry one camera and one lens, so I'll be practicing.

Tulips Standing In Repose

The view from Josephine Road

At the top of East Indio Hills Bandlands

We hiked the crazy slots and scrambles of the Badlands, then strolled through the wide wash, then marched up to the overlook where we sat down for "lunch". Alison whipped me on to beat the storm. It worked. 

Loved it all, but that last mile to exit was blah.

Wait...what...pink radicchio?

Yep. Radicchio. Saw it. Bought it. 

Haven't eaten it yet. 😕 

West Fork of San Gabriel River

We walked along the West Fork on a day that started colder than expected but warmed up by the time we got to the Glenn Campground. The light was terrific. 

Carole Scurlock's Flickr album is remarkable. https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjC27xg

On the Josephine Peak Road

The Meanderthals hiked to the summit of Josephine Peak (5538') today. 

Six inches of snow was reported up there a few days ago. We found patches on the cooler north side above Josephine Gap (about 5000') but the open summit was clear and dry.