Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Beautiful spring at last: All in one salad

by June

The days are longer. The light pours down from the sky (when rain doesn't). And the grass is coming up green. So it's time for us to push past the dark season and into the sunshine ourselves.

To those of you who missed us, we thank you for your kind patience. We missed you. We'll be skipping right over to visit your way too.

Winter and its darkness we consign now to winter. Be done. We are grateful this moment for spring of the year and its seed packets arriving by mail. We are grateful for birdsong when we wake each morning and also for falling asleep at night to the sound of rain tapping against the window glass. We are grateful that the hens are laying bountiful eggs, and that Fern and Blossom's egg-money savings has now mounted up to $171.35 cents, which is maybe half-way to their dream of welcoming home a goat (or, dare I say it, twin goats). We are grateful that it is the season of matzah ball soup and bright eggs hidden on the garden gate (and soon enough in nests along the honeysuckle hedge).

To celebrate this season, we're sharing a couple of recipes that make the most of early spring's delights. Here is Lidia Bastianich's Scallion and Asparagus Salad, paired with some Pennsylvania Pickled Beets. (Please note that my eggs were only dipped in the marinade for an hour or so because I wanted a pink color rather than a red.) Garnished with fragrant dill, this dual-salad makes any table feel as though family and friends are gathered.

Enjoy! And please do tell us what you love most about this spring. We're so happy to be back in our nest here, catching up with you. So what's new?