School's out for the summer (For MARGO!)

Now that I have submitted my final grades, finished corresponding with students who were displeased with their grades and now, especially, that the horrible dissertation is behind me. I find myself, for the first time in a long time, with time on my hands. I have been spending it on a few different projects.

First a few photos of our early spring garden ... the bulbs are all spent by now, so yesterday I started planting some annual flowers to fill in.

Here is a view of the front garden patch, looking up towards our front door. The cherry tree in this picture is just about at full bloom. You know what is lovely? Our street, full of cherry trees, all in full bloom. Also enjoyed the swirling blizzard of blossoms a week or so later during a wind storm. You know what is not lovely? Mounds and drifts of fallen, spent, cherry blossoms EVERYWHERE for a few weeks after the blooming season.

Tulips

Tulips and bleeding hearts

I have also gotten very busy with home maintenance tasks. This week I have just about completed refinishing all of the patio furniture: 8 foot table, 6 chairs, 2 reclining armchairs, one side table. I have also begun getting the deck and porch ready for re-staining - a hideous job that involves a lot of me on my hands and knees wielding a scrub brush.  It looks like the rental of a belt sander is my immediate future.

Next up: Repainting interior trim, and stripping and repainting deck railings.

I have also been busy in the kitchen. Inspired by the Cook's Illustrated DIY cookbook, I have been dabbling in charcuterie. This week I started curing bacon, pancetta, and some duck breast prosciutto. Here are some pics:

This is the pork belly I purchased from our Italian butcher - 4.4 kilos and awaiting my inept trimming of the belly skin.

Here are the duck breasts, fat scored and ready to be cured

I toasted juniper berries, fennel, coriander, red and black peppercorns, and bay leaves

Then ground the toasted spices and blended them with salt and sugar for the duck breast cure

The duck breasts will be covered on all sides with the curing mix and chilled for 4 days, then rinsed, wrapped in cheesecloth, and hung to dry in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. Then, lots of yummy proscuitto for me! I have made this once before, and it is really, really, delicious.

This is the cure mix for the pancetta. Brown sugar, thyme, rosemary, crushed pepper, garlic, salt, curing salt. This is pretty simple - just spread the meat with the cure, refrigerate for 10 days, flipping every other day, and then rinse it, roll it up and tie it, and let it cure in the fridge for a few weeks. I will let you know how it tastes when we finally get to eat it!

  This is the pancetta, covered with the curing mix, in a glass dish, ready to be covered and refrigerated.

Here is the bacon, also in its cure, in a ziploc bag. Once it is done curing (in 10 days) I will smoke it on the grill and then portion and freeze most of it, and cook up a batch of home cured bacon!