#244 : N is for Nesting
A gray morning brings thoughts of nesting plus easy recipes for Sunday Chicken, Vinaigrette for a green salad, Chicken and Rice Soup, and how I saved my garlic crop!
It’s been hard since GP left. I’m still keeping our regular routine—first morning tea on the deck, bluff walks, in the car for errands—although it’s just me now and I do find myself looking for her. With each passing day there is less fur to vacuum up and in the dryer lint catch. I used to call her hair “fibers of love” and she had a LOT of love to share.
GP was the official Pie Cottage greeter—”Woof Woof-what’s your business here? Oh, you’re here for pie? Well, come on in!” She was an expert at finding and cleaning up any pie dough trimmings dropped on the floor. Always polite, she waited until the doughs were made and in the fridge chilling to do her job and once again when lattice and edges were trimmed. She also knew a good photo op when she saw it and often sidled over to join the lineup of Pie Camp grads for a group shot. What a girl!
I know it will take some time and my grand-dog Kira, who is snuggled up right next to me on the couch as I write this, has been keeping me company more often than before. I’m sure that she misses her big sister, too.
Sunday morning I awoke to gray skies and moist air. Not rain or mist. Just a cool moistness in the air. How lucky I am to live where it is not scorching hot or on fire. We’re almost having the kind of Pacific Northwest summer I remember from decades ago—a run of days with bright blue skies, temperatures in the 60s and 70s, followed by cooler days of mist, clouds and sometimes rain. As I settled myself on the couch I found myself looking forward to the shorter days of fall and winter when I start my day in the dark, make a mug of tea, and listen to the pop and crackle of the fire in the wood-stove. It’s a time of nesting…indoors.
Summertime nesting is different as it’s mainly outdoors weeding, pruning, harvesting, mowing, cutting sweet-peas, bringing them inside and placing on a table. How I wish I could grow them all year long. They are my favorites.
After a walk, I came back to roast a Sunday Chicken (recipe follows) which I served with brown rice, a green salad topped with a vinaigrette (recipe follows) and a cold glass of white wine. I made stock after with the leftover bones and in the morning turned that into chicken soup with rice (recipe follows). There’s still enough meat left for enchiladas, tacos, and chicken salad sandwiches for this week, too. That’s a lot of meals from one 5-pound bird!
One last thing…
Sunday morning I harvested my crop of garlic for the year. I placed it in two boxes that Duncan carried up on to the deck for me. After dinner, I curled up on the couch to watch the next episode of Bodkin on Netflix before heading to bed.
In the middle of the night the pitter-patter of rain woke me up. I lay there for awhile enjoying the sound until I remembered that the garlic on the deck was uncovered. I leapt out of bed, opened the back door, dragged the two boxes inside and saved the crop. (Don’t ask me what I was…or wasn’t…wearing.) After breakfast I cleaned and peeled the heads which are now safely drying in my living room. I don’t think any vampires will be walking through my doors anytime soon.
May your week be a happy one, dear friends.
Bake with Kate Virtual Workshop
August 11: Sunset Mousse Chiffon Pie
(Register Here)
In session eight of the year long Bake with Kate series, we will use sweet ripe peaches and red raspberries to make a chiffon pie fillling, place it in a press-in crust finish it off with a raspberry orange whipped cream. Perfect for a late summer treat!
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Tips and Tricks of Gluten Free Pie Dough
Friday August 9th at 8 AM Pacific/11 AM Eastern/4PM GMT
Join me on Friday August 9th for Tips and Tricks of Gluten Free Pie Dough, a one hour demonstration session for paid subscribers.
I will post the Zoom link to the live demonstration session one-hour before the August 9th session to paid subscribers only.
if you can’t make the demonstration session on Friday August 9th no worries because All paid subscribers will receive a video recording of the session.
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"There isn’t a person alive whom I trust more than Kate McDermott when it comes to pie making." ―
RECIPES
SUNDAY CHICKEN
VINAIGRETTE FOR A GREEN SALAD
CHICKEN AND RICE SOUP