Indio, California: Oh just a very long hot day. Last night, after finishing my column, and before going to bed, I remembered to add a new fridge water filter (for the fridge in our new house that I replaced yesterday) to my ever-expanding Amazon cart. Then, stoopidly, I started reading the reviews. One (just one lousy) guy said he had changed his filter only to wake up to a flooded kitchen. I was stressed all night, imagining our beautiful new (to us) kitchen floor flooded. I kept waking up, tossing and turning, and getting no sleep. If it were legal for me to drive in the dark, I would have gone to the house... but I kept telling myself we were at the house for about four hours after I replaced the old filter and had run at least two gallons of water through the door water dispenser (as requested when changing the filter)... not to mention, the ice maker was going full-freeze-ahead. Terry, there is no leak in the water filter. Relax. Get some sleep.
By 5:30a, there was enough light for me to legally drive, and let's face it: I was awake. I threw-on some clothes, drove to the new house only to discover 100% completely dry floors! Normally, I am not a neurotic person, so no idea why I became obcessed about this filter issue. 110 days of isolation?
There was, at least, one good reason to be at the house at dawn. Since we are planning to place an order for white shutters in most rooms in the house (replacing old brown woven blinds), maybe it would be a good idea to see why there were several windows in the place that had never (that we could see) had window coverings. I have been to the house as early as 8:30a, but at 6a, it is easy to see there are a few windows that never receive straight-on sunlight.
My midnight refrigeration flooding panic over a $40 water filter saved a fortune in unnecessary window treatments.
I realize this view can probably not compare to the view straight north down the canal at the Motorcoach Country Club, but this is our new view, just the same.
We still have a "water" view, but it's just our swimming pool now, instead of a canal. There are so many birds along the golf course and lakes behind our house, happily singing this morning.
When I returned to the bus 45 minutes later, DT was still sleeping and had no idea I had ever left! I went back to bed and slept for two nice hours, but was out of sorts all dang day.
Dave and I returned to the house after lunch to bring some cleaning supplies (the house is spotless), bottled drinks, etc. He hosed-off the back patio while I re-measured for a rug for the family room.
Fridge still not leaking!
Our second CSA harvest box was delivered today! So exciting. This week we received two different types of Mexican squash, edible flowers (marigolds), Empress dates, European cucumbers, green seedless grapes, Italian eggplant, a package of gourmet mixed lettuces (ready to eat), a living basil plant, microgreens (radish, buckwheat, sunflower, and pea shoots), oyster mushrooms and a nice fat round watermelon! Wow - this is going to be fun! So excited to try the squashes, and though I have eaten oyster mushrooms, I have never cooked with them.
Since it was going to be nearly 110 degrees today, I planned a no-cook dinner (save popping toast down for the appetizer).
We both really enjoy smoked salmon canapes. There are just a few ingredients: cream cheese, capers, red onion, dill, lox. These few ingredients can go on a bagel, cracker, or on a toast point. There is always a problem to me: the minced red onion and capers always roll off. Today the minced red onion and minced capers were stirred into the cream cheese, schmered onto the toasted bread, topped with lox, and the fresh dill was "garnished" over all. So pretty and so much easier/neater to eat. Y'all know how I love to garnish.
My menu tonight read: Smoked Salmon Canapes + Caprese Salad. I had three beautiful small heirloom tomatoes and burrata. Now I had fresh basil leaves, mixed salad greens, edible flowers, and microgreens! These ingredients really stepped-up our salad supper tonight. I drizzled balsamic syrup over and used the very last pesto cube from our freezer to make a simple dressing. It was a very good combo and pretty easy to prepare.
I've had a few comments and emails about our bus. When we move into our new house (several weeks away, still), our RV will go into covered/climate-controlled storage when we are not traveling in the motorhome. Same situation as we had in Portland. Thank you for asking.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Until my next update, I remain, your Farm Fresh correspondent.