One Local Summer Week 6

I may have made my most "local" meal yet this week. It was broccoli quiche with local broccoli, garlic scapes, carrots, onions, eggs and cheese.

We also had green and wax beans fresh from our garden and cole slaw made with local cabbage.

Dessert was gooseberry pie, made with local gooseberries and local flour and topped with homemade ice cream (local cream, of course). Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of the gooseberry pie, so instead, here is a photo of tonight's dessert: sour cherry pie, made with local sour cherries and flour.

Space Cadets

Image courtesy of AstronomyOnline.org

About 12 years ago I scrimped and saved to buy Michael a telescope, thinking he'd be able to teach the boys all about astronomy. Since then, the telescope has sat mostly unused in the basement or attic. The few times we've thought of using it over the years to view some magnificent, once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event or other, it's either cloudy outside or we've had too much light pollution, etc.
I do remember the first time I saw Saturn via the telescope. It was, well, rather disappointing. I don't know what I had expected, but it was all in black and white, tiny and far away. Yeah, I know, duh.
Melissa and I lately have done a little reading about Galileo in an attempt to finally get out of the Renaissance and move on to colonial America. We've read parts of Galileo for Kids, and done a few of the experiments, watched a Nova documentary on Galileo and Melissa is listening to a tape by Jim Weiss, "Galileo and the Star Gazers."
So, yesterday I stumbled across the information that Jupiter was going to be at its brightest this week, or something to that effect. Michael was home, the telescope was available, the sky was clear and it was dark enough in our neighborhood for viewing - talk about the stars lining up!
Anyway, at about midnight, Michael and the girls located Jupiter and 3 of its Galilean moons. They could even see some of the planet's "stripes!"
The telescope is now sitting in the entryway; maybe we'll be able to do some more star-gazing this year.

We had a special treat for the Fourth of July this year. A generous man who works with my husband is president of the Des Moines Symphony. He invited us to attend a special viewing of the Des Moines Symphony's Yankee Doodle Pops concert on July 3.
The concert is held annually in front of the Iowa State Capitol. More than 100,000 people typically attend the concert and fireworks, bringing picnic suppers and spreading out on the lawn. Our invite, however, allowed us to watch the proceedings from atop the Historical Building while enjoying a casual catered meal.
It took quite an effort on my part to quell my social anxiety and force myself to attend. It helped that the invitation was extended to my entire family. Maybe it's a "safety in numbers" sort of feeling for me, but if the kids couldn't have gone I doubt I would have accepted the invitation.
It was a lovely evening and once I was there I went into "social" mode, smiling and conversing like a natural. Fortunately, my anxiety in these types of situations doesn't show.
I did have a good time and even got to introduce my youngest to former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack and his wife Christie. They are such nice, normal people and expressed seemingly genuine interest in my daughter.
Later in the evening I convinced Sarah to ask for broadway star Craig Schulman's autograph. Maybe it's my training as a journalist, but "important people," whether they be famous singers, politicians or sports stars, are just people. Schulman was more than gracious and we enjoyed his selections from Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables and Man of La Mancha.


I must admit, however, that the highlight of the evening was listening to Iowa's own opera star Simon Estes sing "Old Man River" and "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Estes made his special guest appearance to help raise money for Iowa flood victims and also for the residents of tornado-devastated Parkersburg.
It was a fun evening and I'm glad I went.

One Local Summer Week 5

The pictures aren't so great this week, but the meal sure was! Above is zucchini crusted pizza, one with pesto, onions and feta and the other a version of pizza margherita, with tomato sauce, basil and fresh mozarella.

The only non-local ingredients were olive oil, the pine nuts in the pesto and the tomato sauce.


Dessert was also almost totally local. We had peach crumble with homemade vanilla ice cream. We bought the peaches while visiting my mom in Arkansas. The topping was made with local butter, oats and flour. The ice cream was made with local cream. The only non-local ingredients were vanilla, salt, and white sugar.

Scrumptious!

Freedom!

Last summer my daughters caught several tadpoles at a local pond. One lasted little more than a few days, another metamorphosed in a couple of weeks and was released back into his pond.
The other tadpole, Gus, spent nearly a year in Melissa's fish tank. Over the months, Gus ate and grew, but showed no signs of "frogging" until about 6-8 weeks ago. I had no idea that some frogs, namely bullfrogs, take up to two years to metamorphose.
Just last week, Gus completed his metamorphosis and was released back into the pond of his birth.


We had planned to say a slow and fond farewell, but the recent flooding here in Iowa has created a plague of mosquitoes. Almost as soon as we stepped out of the car, we were surrounded by swirling clouds - literally - of voracious mosquitoes.


Gus was somewhat unceremoniously dumped back in the pond and we ran back to the car, covered in itchy, red welts.


At least we know Gus will have plenty to eat!

One Local Summer, Week 4

I'm working hard to empty out my freezer, hence cauliflower cheese pie. The cauliflower is locally grown, frozen last summer. I can't believe the flavor difference with locally grown cauliflower - it's just fabulous. The cheese, eggs, milk, onions and basil are all local as well. The crust is made from locally grown potatoes - the first I've seen at the farmer's market so far this year.
The only non-local ingredients in this dish are salt and pepper and the olive oil used when pre-baking the crust.
I'm counting the paprika as local, since my husband bought it in Hungary last year on a business trip!!


The side salad is made from locally-grown, roasted eggplant and peppers. After roasting, it is then marinated in olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Unfortunately, it sounds much better than it tastes! It was only an OK recipe, so I won't be making it again.

The tomatoes are also local.



Dessert was angel food cake and strawberries. The only non-local ingredients were sugar, vanilla and salt.

Memories

My grandmother and I had a somewhat uncomfortable relationship. I'm sure she loved me, and I loved her, but we didn't seem to like each other very much.
I spent every summer on my grandmother's farm in New London, Iowa, from the time I was 9 or 10 until her death in 1979. The first several summers, my older sister, Marcia, also stayed there. She and my grandmother were very close and seemed to close ranks against me; at least that's how I felt at the time. I remember how much it hurt to hear grandma talk about "my girl" and know that she wasn't referring to me.
Since there wasn't really any room left for me in the house with Grandma, who was pretty much housebound due to heart problems (her bed was in the kitchen with an oxygen tank at the ready) and arthritis (she needed a walker to move about), I ventured outside to spend time with my dad's older brother, Clarence, and my cousin Bill.
Uncle Clarence farmed his entire life, though what he had really wanted to be was a veterinarian. He was the first adult to ever treat me as an equal. I followed him everywhere on the farm, apparently so stealthily that he would often turn around and run right into me! Some of my best memories are of riding on the tractor with Uncle Clarence, holding onto the back of the seat and leaning against the tire guard, while he mowed weeds. Oh, the conversations we had!
My cousin Bill is only 1 1/2 years older than I am, and I never had more fun than when the two of us had pillow fights in my grandma's living room, plotted against my older sister, dueled outside with sticks or built toad houses in the rock pile outside the yard.
I lived for my summers in Iowa.
As I got older, unfortunately, my relationship with Grandma didn't improve. How I wish now I had listened more closely to the stories of her childhood, asked questions about her early married life, really gotten to know her.
I was the youngest of the youngest of the youngest by far. My dad was born when my grandma was in her forties, my grandfather was born when his father was in his 50s, and I was the youngest grandchild by decades; I'm 44 and my oldest cousin is in her mid-60s.
My grandma was born in 1888 and died in 1979, when she was 91 and I was 15. Imagine what I could have learned from her!
Thinking back, there are a few things I remember, like her teaching me to make hollyhock dolls.


I think Grandma would have liked the adult me. I know I would have appreciated her much more than I did as a child.
I've been thinking about you, Grandma, and wishing I had known you better.