The beginning....

The Sweetness of Doing Nothing



Good morning. Day 1 of my new blog. Not that I had an old one. Alas! My tomatoes are hanging perilously from their yellowing branches due to too much rain. The animals have yet to get to them. I am sure the battle lies ahead. I live in suburbia, but really in a more urban than suburban setting.

The animals that have visited my turf have included ring-necked pheasants, deer, raccoon, opossum, turkey, red and grey squirrel, red fox, cotton-tail bunny, coyote, snapping turtle, ducks, red-tail hawk, salamander, toads, frogs, snakes, chipmunks, along with neighborhood cats who stalk the birds. This morning Skittles, the charcoal and white cat from next door stretched out on the railing of the deck, surveying his kingdom. He competes for this territory with Zephyr, a tabby from across the street and a new, tiny marmalade kitty. I am hoping that a volunteer kitty patrol will keep the birds from pecking at my tomatoes as they ripen.


My latest knitting endeavor has me imagining that I am knitting waves. The pattern is Feather and Fan Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. The fantastic hand painted wool and silk yarn is from Yarntopia Treasures in colorway Seaweed, a mixture of aquamarine, desert green, lime green and olive. The silk makes the yarn shimmer and not only is the visual effect spectacular, but also the sensation as the yarn pulls through fingers. I am recently obsessed with knitting and have also toyed with the idea of spinning my own yarn. These two avocations have waxed and waned in my past, and in fact my sister's comment "You need to get a life. I met a friend of yours and was embarrassed to tell her you were at home knitting chickens." help me direct my thoughts to graduate school. That being accomplished and a career established,I am a school psychologist, I have returned to knitting chickens and other things. The summer is upon me and, as I work in a school system, I shall officially be on vacation. You've gotta love a job that is full-time on a part-time schedule.

There is an Italian saying, il dolce far niente, the sweetness of doing nothing. For me, I am not certain that I would want to take that literally. I am sure that confined to a sentence of nothingness would be akin to me of being doomed to suffer one of Dante's circles of hell. However, released from the daily responsibility of a job for the summer, ah the possibilities are endless. For example, making potato salad with gnocci. My daughter-in-law, Geraldine, prepared this for Father's Day and it was met with raves:

Rachel Ray's Not Potato Salad

Ingredients
2 pounds gnocchi
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 ribs celery from the heart, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 roasted red peppers, chopped
1 small jar marinated mushrooms, drained (4 ounces)
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped (a couple of handfuls)
Preparation
Place a large pot of water over high heat to boil the gnocchi.Once the water is boiling, drop the gnocchi into the pot and cook them for 3 minutes, or until they float.While the gnocchi are cooking, grab a large mixing bowl and whisk together the Dijon mustard and white wine vinegar. Stream the olive oil into the bowl while whisking, then season the dressing with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add your veggies and parsley to the mixing bowl.Drain the gnocchi and toss them, still hot, into the mixing bowl. You can serve the salad now or let it chill out in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to develop more of the flavors. Freshen it up with an extra drizzle of olive oil when you are ready to serve.


Yeah, I know that olive oil has been highlighted with a yellow background, but it is Day 1 and I can't, for the life of me, get it to change. I will have to confer with my daughter, blogger par excellence, and would cite her blog here, if I knew how. I am now obviously beyond my technical element so, ciao.