It’s Monday morning!

Give us a kiss!!!

Well, things are growing.

Right about now would be the time in North Carolina where I’d be tearing out all the cool-weather stuff–which would have long gone to seed–and starting a second round of warm-weather stuff, having already begun to harvest some things like green beans and maybe even a cherry tomato or two.

But here, the cool-weather stuff is still going great guns.

Peas are climbing up the deck railing.

Have I mentioned the lettuce?  Eating a small salad daily or a big family salad three times a week and still not being able to keep up?

We had our first round of kale this week, too–chicken tortellini kale soup.  The kale is doing marvelously.

Still dominating the snapdragons.

And the alyssum in the oregano pot are starting to flower.  These are so much fun.  They are powerfully fragrant–sort of a concentrated honey scent.  Just these three little blooms are enough to smell.  Once the whole pot gets going, you’ll be able to smell them the instant you walk out the back door.

The warm-weather stuff seems to be getting a good start.

Except for the basil.  The purple basil are very disappointing this year.  The chard is starting to go, though.   Hopefully, they’ll really take over.

Pepper, starting to get a little bud.

Tomato, also considering putting out a flower or two.  This is a San Marzano paste tomato.  I may try to save the seeds this year, if I can get a decent crop.

And green beans.  Not sure such a small quantity is worth it, but we’ll give it a try.

Okay, have a great rest of the weekend, y’all!  Go find a fragrant flower and smell it!  Go find something growing and marvel at it!  Go find something delicious and healthy and eat it!

Homemade pizza night!

I finally made the Herbed Whole Wheat Pizza crust (p. 134).  It was very nice–flavorful and chewy.  I think I prefer the Overnight Crust (p. 129), but it was still very nice.

Oh, and I tried a new flavor!  White pizza (no sauce) with roasted sweet potato slices, onions, and kale.

It was pretty good!  Even the guys liked it.

So there we are.  Plugging along–I think I’ve done almost half of the recipes in the book.  Whew.

Couch To 5K running program, Week 2.

Alternate periods of workout and recovery, one and a half minutes jogging, two minutes walking.

Magnificent, U2 (5-minute warm-up walk)

Big House, Audio Adrenaline (1.5 minute jog, 2 minutes walk)

Run to You, Third Day (1.5 minute jog, 2 minutes walk)

Tête Saoule, Francis Cabrel (1.5 minute jog, 2 minutes walk)

Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard (Concert in Central Park Remix), Simon and Garfunkel (1.5 minute jog, 2 minutes walk)

Trip Through Your Wires, U2 (1.5 minute jog, 2 minutes walk)

Foreverandever, Etc., David Crowder Band (1.5 minute jog, 2 minutes walk)

See the Glory, Steven Curtis Chapman (3 minute cool-down walk)

The Color Green, Rich Mullins (5 minutes sitting in garden or prettiest part of yard, breathing deeply and enjoying nature)

Songs are selected for this soundtrack such that the song changes coincide with the planned alternation of hard exercise and recovery exercise.  The author blithely combines secular and Christian music.  Plus, her son says she has really dreadful taste in music.

The publication of this soundtrack in no way obligates the author to assume responsibility for your exercise or music-listening practices.  Please use reasonable caution when exercising to music.  Do not use headphones that block out ambient sound–like approaching cars, annoying neighbors, or bicycling ninja assassins–nor turn the sound up to irresponsible levels.  Do not exercise without first consulting with your physician, nutritionist, and stylist.  Jogging with young children may be hazardous to everyone’s health.  Pump up the tires of your jogging stroller before setting out, because carrying a five-month-old home while lugging a broken jogging stroller is really annoying.

Holy Spirit Coming, by He Qi.

(Nice piece on He Qi at Christianity Today.)

Okay, only one baking project this week, which you’ve already seen a bit.

This week, I made Rustic Raspberry Pie (p. 459).

(Before baking.)

(Immediately after.)

(Ten seconds after.)

This was spectacular.  I love raspberries, although sometimes the supermarket berries are just too bland.  These were a bit bland before they went in the pie, but they really came into their own baked.  I thought the sugar and cornstarch were too much and that the result would be like canned cherry pie filling.  :gag:

But the result was excellent.  I might dial back the sugar a hair if I had some really tasty berries, but for your standard supermarket berries, this was just fine.

All right, here’s a real puzzler for you.

Can you make Jesus out of calcium- and fiber-added juice?

(My Catholic friends are currently either spitting on the ground and crossing themselves or lovingly clucking, “Protestants, God bless ‘em.”)

Seriously.  This is right up there for me with whether you can make Jesus pudding with the leftovers.  Stephen says no.  But he’s okay with dipping leftover Jesus in a bowl of soup or spreading leftover Jesus with butter.

What’s up with that?

Anyway.  Calcium-added Jesus.  This seems very, very wrong to me.

Then again, the Bible says not one of his bones was broken.  Maybe he had extra calcium after all?

Public service announcement:

When cooking two different things at once in the oven, place the item(s) less likely to explode on the bottom rack. . .

. . . lest you find yourself with a raspberry-blackberry-potato pie.

Well, despite a little frost on the ground earlier this week (cue hostile stare at the universe), things are going all right.  (I was able to put everything that needed it in the greenhouse for the night.)

Kale and basil are going really nicely, although the snapdragons are doing little more than limping along.

Barely limping, in fact.

More basil, with some half-hearted chard.  Usually chard is pretty vigorous, so I’m hoping it’ll perk up some.

Oregano . . .

. . . is just sitting there, and the alyssum are still barely sprouting.

Nasturtiums, however, even at the two-leaves stage, are pretty impressive.  And the pineapple sage seems to be doing well.  Can’t wait to see it take off.

Lettuce.  Serious.  This is after I picked off enough leaves for a salad lunch.

Peas are big enough to start training up a string.  They’re only supposed to get to be 30 inches, though, so they shouldn’t need too much support.

And then, because it was sunny and the garden store was just too tempting, . . .

I got a cheap Earth Box knock-off to put my tomatoes in.  And a smaller pot to put a pepper in.  As well as a pepper to put in it.

I’m actively staying away from the garden store today.  If you see me there, yell at me.