May 28, 2012
Monday, May 28th, 2012
Welcome to Bedeque
Been a busy week in Bedeque.
With Jim gone for a bit visiting his father (turning 90 next week, the father not Jim) I have to do Jim’s chores plus mine. An early casualty of his absence were his plant plugs. He had a couple of flats of assorted greens destined for the garden up in his office—probably some cabbages, maybe broccoli, who knows? Well, no one will never know because 2 short days of no water and they are all gone. My bad. Too bad we don’t have a greenhouse for these plants…oh, wait. We DO have a greenhouse…hmmmm. I am going to sneak out to Kool Breeze and pick up 2 new flats of plugs and replace them. I am betting Jim won’t notice the difference. Thank God he doesn’t read my blog.
Chores Never End
I need to mow the grass because it is getting long and rain is expected for the rest of the week, but I really have no interest. I have a book to finish and with the cooler, rainy weather moving in, this is perfect sleeping weather. So tired. I also give the chickens short shrift this week. They are fed and watered, the eggs collected of course, but the interactions are as fast as possible and often occur in the middle of the night by flashlight when I am awakened from a deep sleep by my naggy little conscience, “Shit! I forgot to feed the chickens!” So Jim is being missed, although it is unlikely I will tell him so. The state of the place upon his return will assure him that he is needed here.
Summer is ON, baby!
Exquisitely brutal week at the Inn with gatherings every day, lots of food flying out of here. I love cooking for people but hate always feeling behind…running out of this or that, need to run to the grocery or liquor store, need to send e-mails or pay bills. Always wish I was spending more time with my friends. We had some lovely supper guests from Georgia, touring Prince Edward Island and loving it (of course), and we are thrilled to see the area cottagers back. An SUV pulled in the lot for supper and it was so huge I thought Mitt Romney was coming here for supper, maybe looking for expat votes. But there was no dog kennel strapped to the roof, so I realized it was John and Jeri, back again to their lovely cottage. They were asking about efforts to save the Sea Cow Head Lighthouse from the Federal government’s giant yard sale of historic properties.
Finding Local Products is Easy-ish
Spent Saturday morning managing the Summerside Market, one of Jim’s many jobs that has to be done in his absence. Everyone was having a happy day, so that makes it easy. Bought some parsley plants from Jen Campbell and she threw in a bag of arugula and another of bok choy. Some of the arugula went into a Greek salad for my supper—delish. I would have taken a photo of the dish but I sort-of hate people who do that and post them on the Internet. Also picked up a small wheel of “Sentinnel” cheese from Arthur Davies’ cheese stand. It is one of the few left from his last trip through Quebec’s Eastern Townships from the Le Detour Fromagerie. I can’t say enough about their cheeses, so outstanding. The Sentinnel is a soft goat’s milk, washed-rind cheese, at its peak right now. Made two mad dashes out to North Tryon this week to Tim Dixon’s farm to pick up fresh asparagus. I am running a tab that will be the size of a mortgage payment by the end of the asparagus season. We have fresh asparagus soup and asparagus tarts right now, plus we are serving it as a fresh vegetable on the supper plates. Tomorrow I am going to wrap some individual spears in puff pastry and bake them as a plate garnish.
Onward
Going out to mow the grass. Naggy conscience wins again. Hoping to hit the City Cinema tomorrow night for a movie.
