Busy Kitchen Day and a Winner!

 Good morning, my friends! It's a coolish morning here at the Three Cats Ranch. Our temperature was into the 50's this morning...nice. It's much better sleeping weather when we can turn off the A/C and open some windows. 

So who's up for some winning action this morning? I'm going to spin the random number generator and see who wins the fat quarter bundle I'm giving away to celebrate my 14th Blogiversary. And the winner is...

Abelian!

Congratulations, Abelian! I've sent you an email, so check your inbox. And thanks to all who played along. The many kind comments and remembrances you left where special and fun to read.

Okay, so let's just talk about what happened yesterday. It was a busy day in the kitchen. Nothing I did was particularly difficult or time-consuming, but it was all done in stages. I'd have only a half hour or so between necessary tasks, and then I'd be on to the next thing. Knowing it would be a busy day, I was out to water the annuals early. Along my way, I stopped to admire the echinacea. More flowers are opening up every day.

The lavender is nearly bloomed out. I don't usually do anything with the lavender except to collect the blossoms for drying. I use them to make a lavender tea used in the simple syrup we add to our Bee's Knees cocktails. Also, I float a flower on the top of the cocktail as a garnish.

Our two large plants are nearly bloomed out, and so I was happy to see new blossoms forming on this smaller plant. I can only think it's a different variety. (And why have I not noticed this before?) Obviously, the flowers are longer than the ones in the image above. They're only in bud right now, so I'm curious to get a better look at a mature flower.

I've been checking the dahlias obsessively looking for any sign of a bud. I see a few suspects, but nothing I can be certain about. I had to stake the 2nd one from the left. When I purchased the tubers, I tried for ones that wouldn't require staking, but I found this one listing decidedly forward when I saw it yesterday morning.

You might remember that it fell over while we were traveling last year. We returned home to find it face down in the gutter. Obviously, it partied too hard while we were away. So sad.

Checking the apple tree, the apples look exactly the same as they did when I checked it a week or two ago. They're still small...about the size of golf balls...and I think the deer have been after them. There were too many apples for such a small tree, and so the deer are welcome to them. Just leave a few for us, okay?

Back in the house, I went to work making a Cherry Galette. The crust had to chill in the refrigerator for two hours before I could roll it out. I did some other things while I waited. Eventually, I could add the fruit and bake it. Here's how it looked when I took it out of the oven.

The cherries are very juicy when they're straight from the tree. When I made the cherry crisp recently, it was a little soupy, and I worried the galette would be the same way. As it turns out, it absorbed all the extra juiciness while it cooled through the afternoon, and it was perfect and delicious when we had it for our dessert last night. We served it up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The recipe can be used with almost any kind of fruit with minor adjustments made for the level of sweetness and juiciness. It's another NYTimes recipe, and so you'll need a subscription to open it. If you have trouble and you want the recipe, just email me, and I'll send it to you.

Okay, and while I was awaiting the stages on the galette, I went to work making the component parts for this Black Rice Salad with Cherries and Plums. This recipe was set aside some time ago, thinking I'd make it when the cherries were ready. It was an interesting combination of flavors, and we really liked it. I used the cherries from our tree, and I used some black plums I picked up at the grocery store.

It was a nice side dish to serve with our Tortellini with Snap Peas and Pesto. I had some fresh basil I wanted to use up, and this filled the bill. I've made this before. It's super simple to do.

After all that, I still had cherries leftover. I have some sitting downstairs waiting to be strained and bottled for use. I'll have to report back on the flavor. The Black Rice Salad above used a champagne vinaigrette. I can imagine this cherry vinegar being a good substitute for the champagne vinegar.

So with all that going on in the kitchen, there wasn't a lot of time to work on my quilt. Nevertheless, I made some progress. I can't really tell how much is left, but I'm going to work on it throughout the day today and see if I can get it to binding stage. If not today, I'm pretty sure I'll get it there by tomorrow.

My slow-stitching awaits. Mike was up too early this morning, and so he's gone back to bed. I'm just about to settle down with a cat on my lap and work on my embroidery piece. I see a nice day ahead. How about you?