50mm

picking life from the vine /  by admin

©2011 gary garbett.com

We spent this morning picking tomatoes from our half a dozen or so plants while a pot of freshly brewed coffee waited on us. Despite the soaring heat and very little rain this summer, our plants have been exceptionally fruitful over the past month. With the lack of Mother Nature's moisture however, our cucumbers haven't done nearly as well. Perhaps that's about to change since I finally picked one today.

I love the color that the freshly washed colanders of tomatoes add to my kitchen. With the morning harvest, I wanted to prepare a pasta and fresh tomato dish for dinner this evening. I enjoy the way life has its way of surprising us. Ask and you shall receive. While enjoying my second cup of coffee, I read my friend Tim's blog. His post for the day was just what I was looking for, Bombolini Pasta. Perfect! Along with a fresh green salad using our lone cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, diced pears, crumbled feta, and a splash of balsamic vinaigrette, we may have a date night meal in the making.

Check in with Tim and his E.A.T blog regularly. He offers great ideas; great tastes, and is one incredibly inspiring man in the kitchen. Cheers to ripening life. Go pick yours.

waiting on the aliens /  by admin

©2011 gary garbett.com

I can't recall the last time I had Thai food. Tonight was the night to correct my memory. After my share of garden salads and ripened tomatoes topping nearly everything I've prepared at home for several weeks, with exception to my morning bran and banana, another dinner option was a welcoming treat. Our dishes of Pad Thai and Pad Kee Mao were damn fine. No, wait. They were really damn fine. Dessert was served a few hours later. I had Steely Dan spinning on my turntable and a resting bottle of Odoul's Amber sweating on my desk, just inches from my laptop.

We also had new furniture delivered earlier today, making this as grand a day as Christmas... minus those embarrassing bad gift moments or any electronic caroling plastic nativity scenes. The soft, comfortable matching leather sofa and sitting chair make the entire room smell like forty brand new pairs of Doc Marten's and the catcher's mit I had when I was a kid. That leather glove always smelled so good. Probably because I hardly ever used it. None of my sketch books, records, or transistor radios ever smelled as good as that old mit, but I also didn't need another person to enjoy them either.
Steely Dan asks, "Where did you get those shoes?" If anyone ever asked me, I'd have to tell them the truth. Thrift store... three bucks! With all the money I've saved over the years, someday I'll be able to afford to furnish our house with fancy furniture and dine at some of the finest restaurants in town.

Now seems like the perfect time to flip the record over, drop the needle on side two, and wipe up the sweat from that gorgeous brown bottle.