After the strange and scary events of last week, I was so happy to be home, wandering around my yard weeding, colllecting sticks that had fallen in the last of the many winter storms and tidying up.

Fancy Fire Pits are useful too!

Then I moved indoors to more of the same, though I was waylaid by hunger and ended up cooking for the better part of the afternoon. Luckily, I had a teenaged daughter and her friend available to eat up the treats. I love baking but do precious little of it. We are empty-nesters and it is hard to justify baking just for the two of us. For one thing, we would eat it all. And for another, we would eat it all!!

Ready for baking

Now we just need a glass of milk!

I am having a green moment, green grass, green spring vegetables, green sweets?? Think pistachios!! I happened to have some in the pantry, leftover from the holiday baking bonanza so I turned on the oven and got busy. A mere hour later and we had delicious, barely green Pistachio Shortbread.  And they were so simple to make- really!

Preheat your oven to 325 and lightly toast 1 cup of unsalted pistachios. Dump them into the food processor and wait a little while for them to cool. Once they are cool, chop them finely. To that add 1 1/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar (though they are a little sweet for me, I will make them with 1/2 cup next time), and a teaspoon kosher salt.  Pulse again to blend. Add a stick unsalted butter cut into small pieces and pulse until it looks like cornmeal. In a little cup stir together 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon water and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract. Add this through the feed tube until dough comes together loosely (it will be crumbly). Press it onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet to make a 1/2″ flat rectangle and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.  Cut dough into squares or rectangles and bake until lightly browned and firm, about 18 minutes. When cool, drizzle with bittersweet chocolate if you want to be fancy.

Things are warming up around here and I am so happy to see daffodils starting to bloom and grass turn green. I am not happy, however, to see a plethora of bunnies. I  know, they’re cute and all, but they eat everything.

Enjoying the garden salad buffet!

The most favorite treat seems to be the buds off the top of any bulb. Tulips stems without their tops are a sorry sight, indeed. There are many who love the sight of a cute little bunny munching away on their grass and but I am not one.

I do love other harbingers of the season, like beautiful green vegetables in the market.  My favorite thing to make is a mess of sautéed spring vegetables with lots of garlic over pasta.  I wait impatiently for fava beans, which take a little work to prepare but are so delicious they are worth it.  They do not come into our markets until June, so I will have to content myself with asparagus, sugar snap peas and spring onions for now.

Dinner!

I  slice the onions and sauté them in olive oil, add in the other vegetables, garlic and serve it over pasta. It is delicious and healthy, too!  Pour a glass of red wine and dinner is ready!

Happy Spring! Joy

Finally, I think it is actually Spring. There have been several days when I did not need my warmest winter coat, and the sun is shining. I might even start raking in the garden today and am excited to do it. I love working in the garden this time of year. After spending the winter indoors or playing in the snow, it feels good to dig in the dirt, rake last fall’s leaves and put things in order.

Even the bees have come out!

As I clean up the beds in the garden, I find myself looking forward to a few rainy days too. Not only is it good for the plants and the trees, but it also gives me an opportunity to do a little spring cleaning indoors.  I do get overzealous and try to clean everything I see, from my closets and kitchen pantry to the email file on my computer. My desk at work is covered with papers and receipts as I try to get my taxes together, so that could use some cleaning as well!

I have also been thinking about getting ready for spring with a different kind of cleanse, as in the liquid fasting type, but I just can’t get psyched to do it. As I drink my second glass of red wine, the closest I can get is to skip dessert or that second handful of cashews. But I have lots of time until bathing suit season, so there is that! And with the weather turning warmer, I can always go for long walks and runs to burn those extra calories.

Happy spring cleaning, whatever your type, and Happy Spring! Joy

I love Southern California! Not only is it sunny almost every day but they seem to be so far ahead of the rest of the country (certainly the Northeast) in living the green life. On a long drive through the Mojave desert, we passed a wind farm, turbines as far as you could see!  Every other car is a hybrid, though gas is quite expensive, so that may be a factor. And at each garbage can, there is a recycling bin for plastic and glass.

Wind turbines in the desert

On a different green note, when I saw what my friend pulled out of her CSA box, I wanted to weep with envy. You already know I am obsessed with vegetables and I would love to have these gorgeous vegetables in my CSA share in the summer, let alone mid March!

Cali vegetables in March!

I am building a fantasy feast of salads, roasted fennel and artichoke hearts with citrus vinaigrette and tuscan kale with slivered red apple, endive and chopped walnuts. Add a glass of California Chardonnay and I am in business.  With the sunshine, mountains, ocean and lots of fabulous fruits and vegetables, I can see why people move here and stay. There are just those pesky earthquakes, fires and mudslides, but hey, nothing’s perfect!

Here’s to this week’s California girl. Joy