J'ai fini

I bet you thought you signed up to read a blog about cooking and homebrewing...ha! Instead all you get is... 



This and



this isn't it?

Don't despair because.........my flower garden is finished! Victory! (Well sort of we'll see what the moles and four days of rain on a slope does to the garden.)



My blank canvas (ha!)



All the new flowers snug in their (flower) bed. All perennials
except the little tiny yellow and orange celosia.

Here you can see the second layer of
brick border I layed out today.

The grand finale!





One last thing about green things...look at my cherry tomato plant growing like a rockstar!! For cool temperatures I can't believe how fast it is producing tasty tomatoes! Whoo hoo!

I can't believe how much you can get done when you actually leave work at a normal hour. Between work and school this past semester I was coming home at 8:30 p.m. on Monday, 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 10 p.m. on Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. on Thursday and 5 p.m. on Friday. After five months that takes a toll on your soul but I do what needs to be done to get through a full-time job and my Ph.D. coursework plus commuting to Columbia for class (12 hours of driving each week this semester).

All that being said, wow does it feel good to leave work around 5. Today I even left at 5:30 p.m. and still had a chance to come home and change into gardening clothes, go buy more bricks at Home Depot, lay out the bricks, mulch the flower bed, check on the other plants around the yard, make dinner, bake kale chips, watch an episode of Treme on DVD, load the dishwasher, hand wash the big dishes, clean up the kitchen, AND start my blog all before 10 p.m. Wow!

So, what did we have for dinner you ask? Cauliflower and Chickpea Stew with Couscous. Today was a retirement potluck lunch for one of my coworkers and I volunteered to bring a veggie tray. I, being a fan of cauliflower, purchased some for my veggie tray but sneakily didn't put all of it out for the potluck so I'd have some leftover for recipes at home.

If you haven't checked out this white vegetable either roasted, au gratined, mashed, or (after tonight) stewed then you are missing out. In fact, because I'm such a fan I'll give you not one but TWO yummy recipes that just might change your mind about cauliflower.

Ok, back to dinner.  In my weekly dinner menu I had planned to make spinach and chickpea curry last night. However, while sitting on the front porch enjoying the beautiful weather we were suddenly forced by said weather (twist our arms) to proceed immediately to the upper deck at Woody's and eat hot wings out on the deck. (Both the deck and the hot wings are some of Kirksville's best kept secrets so shhh!) It just happened and they were delicious. So tonight with the addition of the leftover cauliflower, I got to make a recipe from Real Simple that I had saved from the December 2010 issue.

Erin's version

Real Simple's version

Here is the link to the recipe, though tonight I was out of raisins and added a little kale since I was light on spinach. It still tasted good and it tasted even better with a kick of hot sauce on top.

Cauliflower and Chickpea Stew with Couscous
Real Simple magazine, December 2010

As promised here is a second recipe with cauliflower as the star: Roasted Cauliflower and Raisin Crostini. You may think it sounds weird and yes it looks a little weird too but the flavor combinations are amazing and totally worth taking a chance on.

Here are the cauliflower crostinis guest starring in
my 2010 Holiday Dinner appetizer course
with prosciutto, apple, and gorgonzola crostinis
and Domaine Chandon Blanc de Noir sparkling wine

I challenge you to try either of these recipes. Then tell me what you think. I hope that you'll take a new look at this poor vegetable that always gets left behind on the veggie tray.

P.S. Jason and I are brewing two of my beers on Saturday so stay tuned for some homebrew action coming soon.