Monday, June 16, 2008

let the sunshine in...

Okay, everyone lets hum together now, Let the Sunshine in, Let the Sunshine in, the sunshine in….. You remember the song from The Fifth Dimension (1969), oh the good ole days. I was pretty young when this was first recorded but I love this music.

When I was at the grocery store yesterday I found these lovely bundles of sunshine that I thought would be perfect in my foyer. Bring a little sunshine inside the house as I was not going outside to soak up any sun.

Bouquet of Sunshine

You see yesterday was a hot day (112°F/44°C) and when it’s that hot you just don’t want to be outside. I get outside early in the morning to water the garden, sit in the shade and enjoy a cup of coffee and maybe read, eat breakfast before I go inside for the rest of the day. You become like a hermit in the summer, turn up the air conditioner, shades drawn staying inside reading, watching movies, house work, etc. You just try and stay inside. It’s going to be this way until September. Oh you venture out to run errands, get the mail or the paper only to realize how darn hot it is. Don’t forget if there is a breeze it’s like a blow dryer in your face. Thankfully it’s a dry heat, really dry.

Here is a picture of my herb garden taken in early May. There is thyme, sage, marjoram, oregano, arugala, parsley, and basil. It’s been nice being able to walk outside and clip the herbs as you need them. The arugala is gone now as it’s too hot, the basil is growing very well and I will be making pesto pretty soon. Yum.


Herb Garden

The other day I was cooking gnocci with butter, sage, and breadcrumbs. I use a lot of sage as I love the flavor, it’s in the butter such a short time so the more the merrier. I put the butter in the pan and added the sage. Once the butter was bubbling I added a handful of breadcrumbs and a little bit of pecorino cheese. Stir this around until the gnocci is ready to be added and the breadcrumbs are toasted. At this point I picked out the sage before putting in the gnocci and placed it on a paper towel to toss out. Well, after I’d eaten and was cleaning up the kitchen I decided to taste the sage as it looked crispy. Man, was I surprised. I don’t think I’d ever had fried sage and this was very tasty. If you happen to have a bunch of sage this would make a great little appetizer or nibble in a bowl on the table. They don’t look pretty and my photo isn’t very good but they sure are good. Give them a try next time you have some extra sage around, let me know what you think.

Fresh Sage

Fried Sage

2 comments:

Rowena said...

Fried sage leaves is a treat over here! Some even serve them as an antipasto.

112°????!!! I agree with Let the Sunshine in, but on the opposite end of your situation. I think it only gets that hot in Sicily during the summer. Right now in northern Italy, the rain keeps falling and it's 57° out. My basil plants are dying by the day. If we could trade temp digits, I'd be pleading for at least 25 of yours. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Rowena - You've warmed up now. My sage has been since fried by the sun, will get to plant some more in Sept. and start enjoying fresh herbs through the winter.