Lobster for dinner

One of the many things I love about being a New Englander is being close to the coast and...fresh lob-stah! It's wicked awesome. I feel so bad for poor little lobsters, because they taste so delicious.

seafood dinner tonight!

poor cute little dinner

into the pot of boiling water

while the lobster was cooking I melted some butter with scallions

ready!

let's get cracking...

lobster meat with butter, salt, and scallions...so delicious!

Bye for now...

Carrotcake Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these cupcakes a couple of years ago for my birthday and they were SO good. The frosting alone is amazing...I think I could just eat the frosting on its own. It is cream cheesey, orangey, and sweet. So delicious.
I think the Carrotcake Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting came out much better this time. I added more spices, added raisins, and used more butter than oil (I ran out of oil so had to improvise). I also used a larger shredder for the carrots so the pieces were larger and more noticeable in the finished cupcake. I really liked the addition of the raisins, and more butter was nice too. I think using more melted butter versus all oil made the batter thicker, more like a cake batter, instead of thinner like it was last time. The cupcakes lasted almost a week (unfrosted), covered on the kitchen counter. I kept the frosting in the fridge and scooped a bit out as needed, letting it warm to room temperature before using.

The recipe is 24-Karat Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Icing from Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions (page 239).

mise en place for the cupcakes

the smell of the orange zest (for the frosting) was divine

a food processor made grating the carrots a breeze

the cupcake batter: adding the melted butter

nearly there...you can see all of the spices...yum!

the carrots, raisins, and walnuts get added last

beautiful!

I like to use a scoop so the batter is evenly distributed

ready to bake

done! They smell so delicious.

making the cream cheese frosting

for flavoring the frosting: I used orange zest, freshly squeezed
orange juice, and a few drops of pure orange oil

the softened cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar are beaten

the orange juice and vanilla are added...so smooth and silky!

finally the orange zest is added...so delicious!

cooled and frosted

I'd better just try one before serving them

ready for company...yum!

Bye for now...

Lentil & Split Pea Stew

Toward my effort at healthy eating, here is a Lentil & Split Pea Stew I made a few months ago. I was kind of winging it - a few carrots, a few onions, lots of garlic, some herbs, broth, salt and pepper. Very simple, but tasty.

I normally like to cook with French lentils because they cook really fast and are delicious, but these red lentils were great too (and fast cooking). The split peas however took much longer (I didn't soak them first), so I probably wouldn't combine them again. I started out by sauteing the onions and carrots in olive oil and then just added the remaining ingredients, gave it a quick stir, then added the vegetable broth, and cooked until the beans were soft.

The stew turned out to be rather thick because I had to keep cooking it because of the split peas. I served it with some crostini...delicious!

all of the ingredients combined

add a several cups of vegetable broth

cover and cook over low heat

served with french bread crostini

yum!

Bye for now...

In the Garden: what's blooming in June 2013

close up of Clematis 'Roguchi' - tons of flowers and a fast grower
more photos of the clematis below

An update on the garden we planted last summer. Sadly, many of my favorite plants from last year have died. Apparently all of my lavender (sob, one of my favorites!) and my pretty Gaura lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies' are both gone...I also think at least one Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan) has died but we'll see later in the summer when they should be blooming. You can what the garden looked like last year, a few months after planting, in my post from last summer.


Here's what's been blooming during the month of June...

first, apropos of nothing...rainbow! We had a huge rainstorm
the other day and afterward an enormous double rainbow came out...
sadly, this photo doesn't really do it justice, it was beautiful!

these Pulsatilla vulgaris (Anemone pulsatilla) or pasque flowers go from
this, in bloom, to...

...these, adorable seedheads. Don't they look like something
from a Dr. Seuss story? So whimsical.

Nature is interesting because the pasque flowers, above, were originally white when I planted them last year. This year however, some were this more maroonish-reddish color, some were purple, and some were the original white! I wonder what caused them to change color...

a tall, white columbine (sorry, I don't have the Latin name)

a close-up of the columbine

two flower buds of the Geranium Rozanne

beginning to bloom

the Geranium Rozanne filling out

The Geranium Rozanne is another of my favorite flowers - it blooms all summer long. We've been having heatwave after heatwave so far this summer, and this amazing flower just keeps going. It also has a great spreading habit (but isn't invasive) so it looks huge the year it's planted. I just can't recommend it enough!

another white columbine, smaller flowers,
shorter and rounder in habit than the first one above

the short white columbine in the right foreground corner
Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster,' Feather Reed Grass,
on the left and back right

the 'Karl Foerster' grass in bloom

the bud of a Paeonia lactiflora, peony 'Festiva Maxima,'
you can see the tiny ants who drink the nectar and help the peony buds open

more buds...and more ants

peony 'Festiva Maxima' in bloom

Astilbe chinensis 'Visions in White,' before blooming

buds forming on a Liatris spicata Kobold

both the astilbe and liatris are almost ready to bloom

and, voila, the astilbe and liatris are now fully in bloom

More photos of the Clematis 'Roguchi,' another favorite (I know, aren't they all favorites?). I love clematis and this one is wonderful because it has the easiest pruning schedule (3) which means it grows on new wood and dies in the winter, so you can just cut it back hard in the spring. And, the best part? Look at these gorgeous deep purple flowers! The flowers bloom all summer long; I have it growing up my white wrought iron stair railing which provides a nice contrast. It would also look lovely growing with some yellow flowers.

even the buds are pretty with their arching "necks"

another angle

look at how many flowers it has - and this is only 1/4 of the plant!

blooming Lychnis coronaria (rose campion). This flower seems to follow us from
house to house. I don't think we've ever planted any but it's always there!
Kind of reassuring, I suppose :)

and now, time for a bird break!
A female cardinal and a sparrow, resting on the birdfeeder

Echinacea purpurea 'Virgin' about to bloom

the echinacea in full flower

a red rose with the lychnis in the background

a cute fern hiding in the background

Veronica spicata (AKA speedwell)...blooming pink and purple at the
same time...very mysterious

The Veronica (above) are another flower that seems to have changed colors since I planted it last year. I remember planting a deep purple Veronica last year, but most of the plant this year flowered with these pale pink flowers. Very strange and interesting...

daisy time! Leucanthemum x superbum, a shasta daisy...
not sure of the common name on this one

Leucanthemum x superbum 'Ice Star,' another shasta daisy,
basking in the sun

daisies and geranium Rozanne

Hakonechloa macra 'Naomi' (Japanese Fountain Grass)
a slow grower so not much bigger than last year

Bye for now...