Simple Wonders

As I tarry about the garden, peeking here and there and under leaves for hidden treasures --simple wonders-- I'm finding vestiges of the nymph stage of the cicada. Yet many of these vestiges lie in plain sight firmly affixed to rubber tires and brick walls or any surface the nymph can attach to as they are about to begin the molting process from their old "skins" or exoskeletons into the adult stage. I imagine they must need a firm grip as they push their way out. 

    One recent morning my husband happened upon a cicada attached to a tire and in the process of molting. Rare is the chance to watch one emerge from its skin.

                                     

Every now and then we could see it wiggle its way out slightly,
taking its time, rhythmically, as if having labor contractions. 

After emerging, the wings are still folded. 

The wings slowly unfurled . . . 

revealing beautiful, lace-like wings. 

It's colors were like gems, green with shiny gold, 

It's features so intricately detailed. 

The sound of the cicada provides a near constant hum, so noticeable here compared to other places I've been. Many have written about the song of the cicada such as this poem by David Granville.

Cicada Songs  (for "Cicada Mania")

by David Granville

They say your songs

portend the end of summer

just as chirping robins

usher in the spring air.

Listen to the sound

whirring, buzzing through

leaves of trees that shelter

the thrumming brood.

Insect monks chant

hymns of nature

for us and for

their silent females: “mate her.”

More musical than electric currents

that hum along power lines,

your symphony hovers,

guarding the sultry night like armored palatines.

Constant and pervasive,

we humans sometimes hear

sometimes ban your frequencies,

lulled to sleep by drums so dear.

Air conditioners and headphones

drown out your beautiful noise

but others sing with you

till Fall’s frost steals these little joys.

-DFG

Thai Green Curry with Chicken

One of the benefits of having lived in the Sacramento area was the array of restaurants, bakeries and cafes available. And if that was not enough, the Bay Area was just a couple of hours away. One such restaurant is Lemongrass owned by Mai Pham. She is the author of a couple of Thai and Vietnamese cookbooks, one of which I have and love cooking from (The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking). Here's an article about Mai Pham from the California Heartland website. California Heartland is show that is aired on the Sacramento PBS channel KVIE

Here's an easy Thai recipe from The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking.

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
1 tablespoon green curry paste or to taste
1 stalk lemon grass cut into 1-inch pieces and bruised with the back of a knife
1 cup homemade unsalted or canned low-sodium chicken stock
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 kaffir lime leaves, cut into thin slivers
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick strips
2 cups bamboo shoots, blanched in boiling water for 5 minutes and drained
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 red ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
Fresh cilantro sprigs for garnish

My family likes water chestnuts so I substituted those for the bamboo shoots.  

1. Heat 1/3 cup of the coconut milk in a nonstick stir-fry pan over moderate heat until bubbly and hot. 
2. Add the curry paste and lemon grass, and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. 
3. Add the chicken stock, fish sauce, sugar turmeric, and lime leaves. Bring to a boil. 
4. Add the chicken and cook until it turns white, 3 to 5 minutes. 
5. Add the remaining coconut milk, bamboo shoots, peas, and tomatoes. 
6. Continue to simmer until vegetables are thoroughly hot, about 3 minutes. Do not allow coconut milk to boil vigorously, as it will separate. 
7. Remove from heat and add the basil. Garnish with cilantro. Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice. 

The salad shown was made with a mango/apricot/ lime coleslaw recipe from my friend Esther. I did not use the purple cabbage and I used frozen mango chunks.

Ingredients for coleslaw:
1 small green cabbage, shredded
1/2 purple cabbage, shredded
juice of 2 limes
1 lemon
seasoned vinegar to taste, such as sushi, rice or balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
2/3 jar of apricot preserves
2 fresh mangoes cut into small pieces.

1. Shred cabbage. Sprinkle with salt and massage out the water. Let it sit a while, then rinse out extra salt in colander. Drain.
2. In a large bowl, mix the juice of 2 limes, 1 lemon, vinegar, salt, pepper, apricot preserves and mango. 
3. Toss with cabbage. Chill and serve.
4. Enjoy!

First Corn

We enjoyed our first corn of the season -- from our very own corn patch -- on Father's Day.  It was so sweet and tender. Since then I've picked well over 150 ears of corn. Oh my! We've eaten some and I managed to process much of it over a couple of days, and there's still a lot more in the garden. I've been looking for good recipes that use corn. I can't wait to try making tamales. I've been saving some of the husks and drying them but they sure look different from the husks in the supermarket. Those are wide, flat and so light in color.  Perhaps I need to press the husks to keep them flat and dry them in the sun to bleach the color out of them.

The rest of the garden is slowly coming along. With temperatures nearing 100 degrees, the plants are struggling a bit. We finally have one tiny squash growing. Scratch that . . . we had one squash growing. It was in the garden last night but some critter apparently feasted on it during the night. 

There are lots of flowers on the cantaloupe and I'm anticipating having lots of it. The pumpkin plants are getting pretty big and sending out tendrils.  The watermelon is not quite as far along.

Amish pie pumpkin

Sadly, squash bugs and stink bugs attached most of my Amish pie pumpkin plants. 

     

Fairytale pumpkin

  Keeping my fingers crossed that the fairy tale pumpkin survives. 

Fairytale pumpkin with corn

And then there were the potato beetles -- that quickly met their demise. 

It's amazing the damage they did in one day.  

With the heat we've had recently, I'm surprised anything has survived in this planter.  

          The previous hydrant was broken when debris went sailing across the yard during a spring storm. After replacing it with this new one, I decided to build a little planter around it that also serves to protect the hydrant as well. It's been an eventful week in the garden. I've chased the dogs and some calves out of  the garden and something ate summer squash but left no real evidence. Next year we'll have a garden around the fence.