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Saturday, May 30, 2015

GARDEN A GO GO

I don't know when it was I signed up to have our Austin Garden a GoGo to be held at our house, on May 30th, but I can tell you it was long before I found out I needed to have a hip replacement, which I had on February the 18th, and before I knew our garden would be pummeled by hail on April 18th and before I knew that Texas would find itself under endless flooding rain with barely a glimpse of sun for the whole month of May. But I did( sign up for it, that is) and all those events made me (and David) work especially hard to get everything looking the best it could be for the day. Every gardener likes to show her/his garden to its best. Heavens knows I have done enough garden tours and it doesn't come without a lot of fretting about the weather. I had my eyes glued to the radar as they promised more rain over Texas on Saturday. But the gardening gods were kind and there was no rain just some sun, heat and humidity. It was enough for the lace cactus to send out 4 blooms. I wonder if anyone noticed them because they are out in the front and we didn't walk that way.


The format of our visits follows along the lines of food and drink in the house, followed by tour of the garden and then our plant swap. The purpose has always been to ask advice on a troubling part of the garden. I was going to ask for planting suggestions, for the recently renovated section of the English garden, as plant selection has always been my weakness. I took some advice from a gardener at our local nursery and I am not happy with those selections. I should have been asking my fellow garden bloggers, as so many of them are designers. But, somehow the morning went by and that was forgotten.
I also planned a visit to a neighbor's garden. I had visited Syd's garden in the fall and knew my group would be wowed by the visit. And they were.
I have no photos to share of the event or the visit to Syd's garden but I have some recipes to share from the 'eats'. Several people asked for recipes and this seems the easiest place to share them.

The Deviled Egg recipe came from Natasha's Kitchen. No mayo and only half the egg yolks. It was a first time try and everyone seemed to like it. It is now in my special book of recipes.

The Crustless Quiche is slightly altered from a recipe in our local newspaper years ago and by Renee Studebaker. Little did I know that I would meet up with Renee when our garden blogging group formed. She was here today.

The Crustless Quiche

6 stalks of swiss chard
½ red pepper
2 green onions chopped
1 clove garlic pressed and chopped
sea salt
5 eggs
1¼ cups milk
6Tbsp goat cheese broken up
¼ cup smoked gouda grated
¼ cup parmesan cheese
butter and whole wheat pastry flour

Preheat oven to 365°  Wash drain and chop chard. If stems are thick chop and saute. Then add the chard, pepper and onions and saute until tender. Season to taste. This can be done the day before if oyu are serving for breakfast.
Butter a 9" pie dish and sprinkle with pastry flour to cover. Sprinkle half the parmesan over the bottom.
Add the sauteed vegs. Distribute the grated gouda and goat cheese evenly over the top. Whisk the eggs and milk with a pinch of salt and pour over the top. Bake at 365° for 35 minutes.

Currant Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 stick cold butter
¾cup dried currants
½cup low fat buttermilk
1 large egg beaten
milk

Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in the butter or work with fingers until resembles coarse meal. Do quickly so the butter doesn't melt. Stir in currants and beaten egg and buttermilk. Bring together with a fork until just combined then knead quickly. Pat or roll into an 8" disc and cut out with a 2¼"fluted cutter. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 425° for 12-15 minutes until the tops are browned.
Serve with butter jam and for a wonderful Cornish cream tea jam and whipped or clotted cream.

AND NOW IT IS POURING DOWN! Thank you garden gods.

13 comments:

  1. Not perfect timing at all for the Go Go event given all that's happened to you this year, but at least the sun came out. I'm sure all your visitors enjoyed their time wandering around your garden. I'll have to try that Crustless Quiche recipe. It sounds absolutely delicious.

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  2. I'm glad the weather was accommodating. I'm sure your garden, even after its pummeling by hail, surpasses most and that your visitors went home raving about it. I also hope the relentless rain besieging Texas gives you a good long break soon.

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  3. Your garden was beautiful and your food was delish. Special thanks to you and to David for hosting, in spite of all that you’ve had to deal with recently. And the tour to visit your friend’s garden was delightful.

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    1. I'm glad you enjoyed the morning Diana and thanks for the plant.

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  4. You are a real trooper to have hosted under such circumstances. There are as many lessons to be learned from you about that as there are plants to be admired in your beleaguered spaces this year.

    I'll be keeping fingers crossed that one of the other bloggers in the group took photos and will post images to go along with these delicious looking recipes. It must have been a bit of a special treat for Renee Studebaker to be served a lovely version of one of her own recipes. But those lovely touches are only part of what puts you in a class all your own. I don't envy whoever it is that will host the next go-go. You are a tough act to follow, ma'am!

    The Hub and I were in New Braunfels at a Fly Fishing Expo Saturday and we ended up leaving a bit early to escape advancing storms that afternoon. So many eyes were on the sky Saturday, and for very good reason.

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    1. We don't usually take photos at our GoGos so I don't think you will find any postings. How amazing that you went to New Braunfels. Bob Pool, one of our garden bloggers was speaking there. Did you hear him speak? He dropped by on his way to drop off a lovely flamingo he had made for one of our bloggers. And yes those storms bought us another 2" of rain yesterday afternoon.

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  5. I was sorry to have missed it. I had told Syd I would try to make it as would have loved to see her garden (as well as yours -goes without saying) but weekends are just so hard for me to get away. I am excited to see the recipe posts!!! Hope you had a wonderful day/turnout. The cactus photo is beautiful.

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  6. Jenny, your garden was simply gorgeous, with no sign of hail damage to my eyes other than speckling on the leaves of some of your agaves and dyckias. No doubt you see all the damage, just as we all see our own weeds and things that need doing, but I assure you that your visitors saw only the enduring beauty of your garden. Thank you to you and David for your hospitality and the delicious food and drink! It was all wonderful. And then it was topped off by a visit to Syd's beautiful home and garden -- what a treat! Thanks for everything. I'll be posting about Syd's garden tomorrow.

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    1. David and I both enjoyed hosting the group and a re-visit to Syd's garden. It's amazing what a month of rain did to bring the garden back to life. Some of the plants had not a leaf left after the hail and re grew in the coolest month we have had in years. However, there were many losses and there are more to come. I am finding that the terrible damage on the stem of the Felicia and Zephirine Drouihin mean that they cannot support the leaves that tried to grow. I will have to cut them back to the ground and hope they grow back. It seems that I have lost the lovely Texas clematis. I cut it back but the insult was too much. Ah well, that's gardening for you.

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  7. Your garden is amazing. Loved seeing it in person.
    Thanks for the recipes. I'll be trying these sometime soon.

    And, thanks again for a lovely Go-Go.

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    1. I'm glad you managed to visit as I know it is a way from Wimberley. I'm glad that Pam and Diana posted about the visit so you could see Syd's garden.

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  8. Your garden is amazing! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  9. So admirable not backing out under all the extenuating circumstances. How fabulous for the lace cactus to bloom and bring you cheer! The food sounds yummy! This rain has been unbelievable. I am sure your garden was a treat for all that were there!

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