Saturday, May 1, 2010

Jacarandas in Bloom

One of the most glorious sights down here in spring is the blooming of Jacaranda trees. The bare branches are all covered with vivid purple flowers. It puts a smile on my face just to see them, just like when I see a Kingfisher bird sitting on a telephone wire. Sure signs of spring in South Florida.

My son, Geoffrey, is home from college for the summer now. It is so good to have him home again. I can't believe he will be going back as a sophomore in the fall. Vicky is going back as a junior in the fall. We are driving up to Tampa next week to bring her and all of her stuff home for a week, then she goes back up to attend some summer classes.

Tonight I made the most delicious pork tenderloin with lots of garlic, lemon and rosemary from my garden. I paired it with oven roasted potatoes, also with garlic and rosemary. Absolutely killer. I swear I am a much better cook since I started watching Food Network. I could always cook basic meals and a few specialties, but watching other people make gourmet food opens your mind to the possibilities.

I've also gained an appreciation for esoteric kitchen tools! I used to see little ramekins, offset spatulas, bundt cake pans and stuff like that and think that it looked cool, but couldn't bring myself to see how I could use it. Now I have all those and more. My next kitchen toy is going to be a springform pan.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Love hearing about your tasty meals, Steph! Your comment about kitchen oddities made me laugh - I bought a garlic roaster a few months ago, and I use it ALL THE TIME. Before, I rarely roasted garlic in the oven, because it was kind of a pain, but the garlic roaster is my favorite toy. Roasted garlic mash, roasted garlic soup, and there's nothing better than garlic bread with roasted garlic - I don't even need butter!
:)
~Liz

Stephanie said...

Well damn, now I'm thinking I might need a garlic roaster! :D