A thought for today

"One of my correspondents asked where one is to draw the line...I am unsure where the line ought to be drawn, or how to draw it. But it is an intelligent question, worth losing some sleep over....

...if we are ever again to have a world fit and pleasant for little children, we are surely going to have to draw the line where it is not easily drawn. We are going to have to learn to give up things that we have learned (in only a few years, after all) to "need." I am not an optimist; I am afraid that I won't live long enough to escape my bondage to the machines. Nevertheless, on every day left to me I will search my mind and circumstances for the means of escape. And I am not without hope. I knew a man who, in the age of chainsaws, went right on cutting his wood with a handsaw and an axe. He was a healthier and a saner man than I am . I shall let his memory trouble my thoughts."

~Wendell Berry

Comments?

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Picking Potatoes from the Pumpkin Patch

First tomatoes

Fresh picked squash blossoms. I have known that they are edible and as far as I can tell these are prime candidates for cooking. Since nobody else is home for me to offend I decide it's a good night to indulge my sense of adventure.

I looked up cooking options in my cookbooks of which I have a large selection. Stuff. Deep fry (tempura?) or sautee. Sauteeing seems easiest but I suspect that the tempura method would taste nicer. Stuffing I don't even consider.

I find a recipe for tempura. Decide that it's a large recipe for five blossoms even if I did halve or quarter it. And besides there's the oil to heat up and the amount of oil used doesn't change for five blossoms or fifty. Sautee it is.

Here they are sauteeing. Olive oil.

I made a soy/ginger sauce. Eating this was an enjoyable experience. The small one tasted best. It was eaten before I took the picture since it cooked fastest. As soon as they hit the plate they flattened and I immediately saw the benefits of stuffing. There are more growing in the garden. I could sample pumpkin and squash of various kinds. But I'm really not sure there's much point. Perhaps for a special meal where I want to impress. But I try not to do those kinds of meals anymore--the try to impress kind. I'd rather have friends who just enjoy getting together. Even if our meals end up impressive at times, I'd rather that not be the focus.

(Why is this next picture off to the side? Sorry.)

I followed up my "meal" with dessert: mango fried in butter, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with maple syrup. A gorgeous way to finish. I would have added blueberries but I didn't get around to it. Besides, they would have stained the rich yellow colour.

This was a fun experiment. I've posted more photos at our nature site.