Lust Wanes, But I'm Still Charmed

When I first bought (on impulse) my Lobelia erinus hanging basket, it looked just like the photo below. Really.

Quickly, though, it became less showy, and at one point, I feared for its survival. Look how crispy it was early last week!

Since then, though, a couple of folks have mentioned that this is just what Lobelia baskets do, no matter where you put them or what you do. And while that's a shame, it does make me feel better -- I had thought the plant's more pedestrian appearance was a reflection of poor gardening. Now I don't feel quite so responsible.

Truth is, it doesn't look too terrible right now -- it's just that there's no way it can compete with its spectacular appearance earlier this year. Readjusting my expectations helps. After all, those little blooms --though there are fewer -- are still a heart-stopping periwinkle blue. I've moved it (again) to a new location with late afternoon sun and it seems to have perked up a bit. It's not so showy, but it looks less crispified. So while my lust has waned, I'm still glad to have Lobelia around.

Dog Days Are Bloom Days

Fresh-from-the-Garden Pasta Sauce

On a much lighter note than my last post, it's getting to be tomato harvest time! I'm hoping that between the six plants and four varieties I've got going this year, we'll have plenty of home-grown tomatoes for the rest of the summer.

Last night, I made a pasta sauce with whatever I could find that was ripe on the vine. (This was new for me. In the past, I've mostly used the backyard tomatoes uncooked, like in salads or on bruschetta.) I'd given away a ripe Half-Moon China and a bunch of Black Cherries on Sunday night, so all I could find that were ready were a couple of ripe Early Girls and a few more Black Cherries, but that was a great start. Then, I chopped a ton of freshly picked basil and parsley.






Great basics for a fresh sauce.






I sauteed those together in a skillet with a little sugar (to combat the tomatoes' acidity), some kosher salt, olive oil and garlic. In a separate skillet, I browned some venison Italian sausage with chopped onions. I combined the two skillets and added some crushed red pepper and a little red wine.

Mmmmm, pasta sauce, halalalamph...

I poured the whole thing over penne pasta and grated some Reggiano on top. So flavorful! The tomatoes really shrank in the cooking process, though, so maybe next time I'll wait until a few more are ripe.

The Bridge

Mom was pretty freaked out last night when she heard about the 35W bridge collapse, so I just wanted to let everyone know that we're fine. The bridge is really close to both our offices -- and to the Metrodome (Mom was particularly worried about that because it was announced that there was a Twins game last night and she thought I might be there) -- but although we do take that route to go visit friends in the Northern suburbs, it's not a road we use every day.

One of the strangest things to see has been the media coverage. As you may know, we have chosen not to have cable, so until Mom called, I didn't realize how much play this was getting nationwide. Around 10:00 p.m., M tuned into the BBC World News on public television and was amazed to see that this was the lead story -- it ran uninterrupted for ten minutes.

We've touched base with a number of folks, including a friend who called last night after seeing "someone who looks just like Mason" being pulled out of a car at the site. Another friend we talked to was in tears -- his wife uses that bridge every day and was on it earlier yesterday evening. One of the newer folks in my old department at work was on the bridge when it happened, but was almost all the way across it when the collapse began, so he was able to drive to safety. He was in before 7:00 a.m. today (myself, I think I'd take a mental health day).

It looks like anyone near a television set is going to be bombarded with this story for quite some time, so you probably don't need me to add anything more -- just wanted to let everyone know that we're okay.

D'oh!

Just wanted to share two fun Simpsons items before having to get back to work.

First, thanks to the new Simpsons movie (haven't seen it yet, but really want to), Harper's Bazaar did a "spread" featuring the Simpsons as models. Marge looking both schoolgirl and fetish in Gaultier? How fun is that!


Second, also hopping on the Simpsons movie bandwagon is Burger King. Probably inevitable that there'd be some sort of fast-food tie-in, but this one's a little more fun than usual because one of the associated Web goodies lets you "simpsonize" yourself. Just upload a photo, make some choices about hairstyle, etc., and you get a Simpsons version of yourself. Here's me:
Go try for yourself!