Sometimes a girl needs some flowers.

Last night, at a friend's pig roast party (yes, I said pig roast), a couple of friends and I were talking about the beautiful peonies that are showing up at the farmer's markets lately and how lovely it is to get a bouquet of flowers. I've been jonesing for some flowers lately, probably because I've been impatiently waiting for my dahlias to sprout. I've finally learned why it would be a good idea to keep a journal of when things where planted and when they sprouted. It seems like my dahlia's are taking a long time to sprout and maybe they're taking just as long as they did last year. But since I didn't write down how long they took to sprout last year, I have nothing to compare it to. Thanks to this blog, I know that this year, I planted my dahlias on the weekend of May 9th/10th, so it's been just about a month now. A few sprouts have come up, but not in the spots where I planted my tubers. I must have a few rogue tubers still in the ground. The other night, when I started worrying about my little tubers, I did some research on the Internet and discovered that it is not good to water dahlia tubers until they sprout because it cools down the soil. Of course, I have been watering my dahlia tubers because I've been treating them like newly sown seeds. Urg! I'm sure I watered them last year and they sprouted fine. So, the bottom line is I've stopped watering my tubers except the ones that have sprouted and now I'm anxiously waiting to see if the tubers that I dug up last winter, saved, and planted really sprout. I hope I did it right! The vegetables are amazing, but sometimes a girl needs some flowers. To hold me over, I splurged and bought a couple of red geraniums, which have brightened up my garden and made me smile.

On another note, I had another domestic Sunday, full of food adventures and garden activities. In keeping with my goal to make a new recipe from Kneadlessly Simple each week, I made Crusty Rosemary and Olive Pot Bread (pot = enamel dutch oven). I harvested the rosemary from my garden yesterday.Saying that I made it today would be an understatement since I actually started making it yesterday morning. The bread turned out amazing, super moist and flavorful.  The recipes in this book really are simple, but Jake and I decided that the success of these recipes is in the scheduling and if you were not really the scheduling type or just not good with time management, these recipes may not be all that easy. 

Jake and I had fresh broccoli from my garden in our dinner tonight. It was pretty tasty. I have to say though, that after growing broccoli for the first time this year, I don't think I'll do it again. For one, they take a long time to grow and bear fruit. They also take up a lot of space since they get so tall and have such big leaves. When you harvest the large head in the center of the plant, you still get several smaller heads that shoot out from the side of the stalk, but it still doesn't seem worth all the time and space they take up. I had to sacrifice two broccoli plants this week because I wanted to use the squares for something more productive. I think I might be partial to the kinds of vegetables you can continue harvesting all season long. There is nothing cooler than picking off the outer leaves of a lettuce or kale plant and having it regenerate brand new leaves for you within the week. 

Finally, I made another batch of those delicious carrot oatmeal cookies upon the persistent request of one of Jake's co-workers. I know that the coconut oil* in the recipe list seems intimidating, but it is more simple than it seems and the recipe as a whole is really easy to put together. If you haven't tried them already, I recommend that you do. They're delightful.

* I realize that coconut oil is not a local ingredient,  but I had to make an exception for this recipe. I've decided that occasionally splurging on a non-local, foody ingredient is ok if it will help me grow as a cook and enrich my palate. I think the coconut oil served that purpose. ;)