Sibling Gathering Recipe: Leeks, Lemon, Pasta, and Peas

Last Friday it worked out that my siblings and I could coordinate a day together in the Inland Empire. What a treat! It had been a long time since we spent a day just by ourselves. We had a blast touring childhood haunts, family landmarks, and keeping our digital cameras busy. I was in charge of dinner that night. I wanted to make something easy that could be thrown together after we returned to Kellogg. Mom joined us for dinner and it was my first try with the following recipe. I made it in less than thirty minutes, it was very delicious, and will be even better when the peas and mint can be fresh from the garden.

Orecchiette with Leeks, Peas, and Pecorino
1 pound dry orecchiette or some other short pasta
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 leeks (white and light green parts only), thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 10-ounce package frozen peas, thawed
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup (4 ounces) grated Pecorino
2 teaspoons lemon zest

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks, season with the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and peas and cook for 2 minutes more. Stir in the cream and 3/4 cup of the Pecorino. Simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 4 minutes. Drain the pasta and return it to pot. Add the sauce, lemon zest, and mint and toss. Divide the pasta among shallow bowls and sprinkle with the remaining Pecorino and pepper. Tip: Sugary and slightly crunchy, fresh peas are well worth the extra effort of shelling during the brief period in the spring when they're available. You can use 2 pounds of fresh peas (2 cups shelled) in place of the frozen ones called for in this recipe. Yield: Makes 4 servings
Note: I couldn't find orecciette or Pecorino at any stores in the Inland Empire. I used bow ties as you can see from the picture above. I think small shells would have been better. The cheese person at Huckleberries suggested another kind of Romano since Pecorino was sold out. It worked great. This recipe is in Real Simple magazine this month and nutritional information can be found on the Real Simple website.

National Poetry Month, Poem #5

What She Could Do

Swing some good licks

with a hoe or an axe,

Scatter sheep manure,doom

dandelions. Mulch

with bark and batting.

Name lilies in Latin.

Render pot liquor,turkey-

neck broth, enormous

grape-juice fruitcakes-batter

dripping from fingers.

Get her mouth around hymns,

young Lochinvar,tintinnabulation

of bells. Be the eensy spider,

or voice of God. Walk

blunt. Laugh big. Pinch

with her long white toes.

- Elizabeth Holmes

This poem is a tribute to the women in my life that have done amazing feats and been role models to me. The use of verbs with sharp sounds makes this poem memorable as it is recited.

Raised Beds: Effective, Efficient Gardening

I am on spring break, so I had some fun today making my blog look a little more springy, since the weather isn't moving in that direction. New gardeners are always asking me about the pros and cons of raised beds. All I can speak about is the pros. They make gardening effective and efficient. The first picture is of my mom's garden with raised beds. When her yard was done during the Superfund project in Kellogg, she decided to do raised beds. JEJ built these raised beds for Mom. The soil was provided by the project, but Mom continues to amend it each year with manure. She wanted them higher so she could garden, weed, and water without bending over. This type has worked well for her. The vegetables are compact in each bed. I will have to post a picture in about three months so you can see how prolific her raised bed vegetables are. ( side note: when JEJ was building these raised beds in Mom's driveway, curious onlookers thought he was building coffins. Finally a neighbor asked since they couldn't figure out where that many deceased family members had come from to need that many coffins! I am glad that was cleared up).
The next picture shows our raised beds. Because we had to spend so much time amending our soil/sand, raised beds helped quicken that process. The amendments are more concentrated so you don't have to fertilize as often. Also, I do cut flowers which reseed like crazy. At first I thought that was delightful. Later I discovered you could only grow so many bachelor buttons and cosmos. The raised beds helped deter reseeding and allowed the smaller plants to grow and not be choked out by cosmos. We placed weed barrier around the raised beds and added bark. This has kept the weeds and reseeded flowers down.
Another advantage to raised beds is less traffic on the garden soil. If you don't walk on the garden plot you don't pack down the soil. The amended soil stays fluffy and easier to work with.
Again, I would recommend raised beds. We used recycled wood so the expense was minimal. Now if the weather would cooperate, we could once again experience the effective, efficient raised beds.

National Poetry Month, Poem #4

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
-Robert Frost

This poem always takes me back to the book The Outsiders. With the poem, the phrase "Stay Gold", and Stevie Wonder's theme song in the film it reminds me of the novel study with students. They remember this poem. On a personal level I love the idea of gold in nature and how it doesn't often stay.

Disasters, Fiascoes, and the Most Secure House in the Silver Valley

As I said yesterday, disaster always follows me when I return to my hometown of Kellogg, Idaho for a visit. The rest of yesterday was uneventful, but today was another story. My sister has never been locked out of her house. Today when I went to pick her up to go out to breakfast she unknowingly locked herself out of the house. There is a door in the garage they never lock. She did last night ( I guess because I was there to bring disaster). When we arrived back from breakfast we tried every door into the house. We also tried every window. Everything was locked up tight. Next we tried tools. (Now remember, this was the team that couldn't find the spare or the rod to fix the tire yesterday). We called my husband for advice and he said it would be cheaper to call a locksmith than break down a door or window. Thank God. Picturing the two of us trying to crash through a window or knock down a door was not a picture I wanted in my head. SilverValleyGirl called a friend that knew a locksmith. Low and behold... Dave Smith Motors not only sells a jillion cars each year in Kellogg... they have a locksmith. After unsuccessfully working with all the doors for thirty minutes with his collection of tools, he finally found a door he could open. I feel safe now knowing my sister has the most secure house in The Silver Valley. At that point I thought I had better just drive away and head for Lake Roosevelt before a wall crashed down or a shower overflowed. (I was relieved she had wireless. At least I could check in on Huckleberries Online while waiting for the locksmith to " do his thing" at the door.)

National Poetry Month, Poem #3

A Prayer for the Twenty-First Century

May the road be free for the journey,
May it lead where it promised it would,
May the stars that gave ancient bearings
Be seen, still be understood.
May every aircraft fly safely,
May every traveler be found,
May sailors in crossing the ocean
Not hear the cries of the drowned.

May gardens be wild, like jungles,
May nature never be tamed,
May dangers create of us heroes,
May fears always have names.
May the mountains stand to remind us
Of what it means to be young,
May we be outlived by our daughters,
May we be outlived by our sons.

May the bombs rust away in the bunkers,
And the doomsday clock not be rewound,
May the solitary scientist, working,
Remember the holes in the ground.
May the knife remain in the holder,
May the bullet stay in the gun,
May those who live in the shadows
Be seen by those in the sun.

John Marsden

This poem gives up hope for the twenty-first century.