Mother's Day 2013

I asked Ann some days ago what she wanted to eat for Mother's Day dinner and she had to think about it for a little while. She hasn't been feeling all that great of late and so I wanted to make sure that she would be up to eating whatever I made. She emailed me a recipe for a smoked salmon, asparagus, and lemon pasta that appealed to her and so I planned to make something similar.

We planned to spend this Sunday at home, an increasing rarity. With it being the dreaded trifecta weekend at the restaurant (Mother's Day, two high school proms, and Shenandoah University graduation), we were swamped and we knew we would be swamped for months in advance. This weekend is historically about our frost date too and is the weekend that we typically set out our tender plants, tomatoes, peppers, basils, and the like. So we planned nothing except a lazy day of gardening and sitting on the patio.

And a good thing too. After getting home very late and going to bed later still, I awoke in a zombie-like state. Actually, awoke is the wrong phrasing. I was awakened is more to the point: the dogs decided it was time to get up and the brown one nuzzled me until I got out of bed and took them out. Black-and-white just whined. Ann made coffee while I lay on the sofa and finally, I got myself motivated and outside, cup of delicious coffee in hand, about 10am.

Proud Mama

Year Five for the Wisteria



New Calibrachoa Hanging Baskets

Ann Might Have Found an Orphan Digitalis to Bring Home

This Salvia is Stunning

We managed to weed a lot and plant some new perennials, but ended up not planting the vegetable beds. The National Weather Service has issued a frost advisory for Monday night. Of course. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

Wildflowers for Ann on Mother's Day

After gardening all that I could or wanted to garden, we took avantage of the sunny cool weather to sit out and have a glass of Albariño, our last bottle of 2011. What a great, light, crisp, and lemony wine, perfect for patio drinking!

Albariño! Love this Wine Outdoors!

While we were outside, I picked one of the few remaining leeks, planted at this time last year. What a beautiful specimen this guy is!

Leek from the Garden; Big as the Chair!

Pasta Mise

And then once inside, I started on a 15-minute dinner, all I was up to after getting killed all week at the restaurant. The ingredients for the pasta from the blanched asparagus clockwise are lemon thyme, heavy cream, smoked bluefish, lemon zest, leek, pappardelle, and sliced shallots. I've done dozens of riffs on this pasta at the restaurant over the years, mostly with smoked salmon, but I just happen to have some awesome smoked bluefish on hand right now.

Happy Mother's Day, Ann!