Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Rhubarb.. oh rhubarb




As a young child growing up in a rural part of Ireland, I was fascinated by the huge rhubarb plants that grew in our garden that we revered by my mother so when I grew up I decided to grow it in my own garden and enjoy the fruit of my labor to the fullest every spring time. Of course the usual suspects of classic Irish style rhubarb tarts are always a favorite of mine but a recipe the the May edition of 'Living" by Martha Stewart caught my eye as I was browsing in a store, I though no more of it as I didn't want to buy the magazine but a few weeks later a friend of mine gave it to me and it was a sign I needed to make the delicious looking Rhubarb Upside Down Cake!

First to harvest, with the help of my little son, we went out and grabbed a few stalks from one of the plants and two stalks was all that was required as they weighted a pound! One thing I warn all children who come and play is that the leaves of the plant are poisonous but I have yet to find a child that was compelled to eat the greens....



Here is the link to the recipe...

Saturday, May 15, 2010

To bee or not to bee....a labor of love























Today saw the passing of a new milestone in my life, our bee hives are assembled and we picked up and installed our nucleus of bees! It was quite the relief after months of planning, field trips to beekeeper supply companies, bee seminars ect. Beekeeping will not be a big money spinner but will provide me with a biodynamic source of honey I can trust for sale to my customers through the farmers market in the fall of 2011. I am so excited to spend time learning more about the art of beekeeping, to spend time listening to their amazing humming and to get inspiration from the bees to be as active and devoted to their work as I want to be to mine.... Of course we also look forward to making wax candles, and maybe to some honey next year if we are lucky! To celebrate our 'bee" adventure I decided to create a warm goats cheese salad with honey and lavender for one of my friends

Recipe - Warm goats cheese salad with honey and lavender
Ingredients:
Slices of french baguette rubbed with garlic and toasted lightly
Honey
Dried Lavender flowers

Method: Place the toasted baguette in an ovenproof dish and place disks of goats cheese on top, add some honey and the lavender flowers, place under the broiler until the goats cheese is warm and serve over greens! Simple, classic and so delicious!