Saturday, 9 May 2015
I began the day at midmorning with an obligatory walk to the Ilwaco Saturday Market to take photos for the Discover Ilwaco Facebook page. Even though the market is always a treat, I felt more like weeding my garden. I’ll enjoy the weekly excursion more when I get my spring clean up finally done.
Ilwaco Saturday Market
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I popped into Time Enough to order Ken Druse’s new shade garden book, and saw another book that might help me.
Unfortunately, my house does not reflect the fact that I had a Seattle housecleaning business for 18 years before I moved to the beach and started gardening for a living.
On the way home I checked the meander line ditch as I went in the back way through Nora’s yard. Oh! It is aswarm with tadpoles.
at home in the garden
Allan mowed our lawn and also Nora’s and made a path through her back lot (which is much too long and time-consuming to completely mow with our push mower).
I spent the afternoon with the pick removing more variegated carex from along the front yard entryway. The metal decoratey thingies were hidden so I moved them into a more visible spot.
While I weeded, a car pulled up and two gardeners, Laura and Mary (who said I used to mow her ex-husband’s lawn many years ago in Seaview…) came to tour the garden. We went all around every pathway, something I always enjoy. (Allan was still mowing that lawn path, so no photos were taken of that pleasant event.)
After they left, I think I managed to get all of that carex out at last.
At five-ish, Todd arrived for our evening excursion, with time to tour the garden first.
We found some of the little plants that he had sent us, still alive, and briefly examined the benches of Ladies in Waiting.
And then the three of us were off in Todd’s car into the wild backroads of Naselle to find Ann, the Amateur Bot-ann-ist‘s, ancestral home.
dinner at the Estancia
It proved to be an adventurous trip, with excursions and tight turn arounds down country roads with many “Beware of Dog” and one “Impeach Obama” sign, some exciting backing up (Todd: “It’s ok, we’re on a curve.”), the dreaded “no service” on my phone, driving back out to the “Hunter’s Lodge” where we suddenly thought to try Todd’s phone as he has a different carrier. (Note: Verizon works better in the wilds of Naselle.) Ann directed us back to where we had already been, and just one sharp turn past a tall hedge brought us to the Estancia. We were late, but were reassured that that was “Italian time”.
Ann and I had met the Bloggers Fling in Portland last summer and she had since been to visit my garden once. She had invited to us to a Sicilian style dinner.
We walked a grassy path, imprinted with deep hoof-holes from a rogue herd of cows, down to the Naselle riverbank.
Up the stairs we went, and I worried a little about the embarassment of having to go down backwards at the end of the evening….the price of encroaching decrepitude.
Ann’s father is into all things fishing (he publishes several fishing magazines) and all things Italian.
I described to Todd the floral headdress that Ann wore at the opening soirée of the Bloggers Fling, and he asked if he would be expected to come up with such attire for the Hardy Plant weekend in June. Oh, no, we said, although I did remember the green on green costumes at the Fifty Shades of Green evening at last year’s Hardy Plant weekend. Hmmm.
This was a smaller version of the five course Italian dinners that Ann gives in Portland. We all contributed, as prearranged, some funds for the ingredients, which I tell you because otherwise I would feel we had taken advantage of such lavish hospitality and many many hours of cooking.
The whole experience was so glorious that it was almost surreal. I should have taken notes on the many dishes; I did not.
Ann and her husband reside in Portland, Oregon, where such delicacies are available. She said the owner of the little shop where she bought the anchovies expressed great approval of her selection.
I asked Ann later to remind what was in the filling, and she wrote back: “ricotta, powdered sugar, cinnamon, shaved unsweetened chocolate, candied fruit (melon), candied fruit peel (blood orange and lemon), and rosewater. I didn’t have a strainer, but it’s best to strain the ricotta for a day or two in order to thicken it a bit. This is also the traditional cake filling in Sicily too. It goes really well with lemon cake.”
I learned that just one of these delectable treats is a cannolo and that the singular of ravioli is raviolo.
Ann’s young cat, Quincy Mercurio Carbone, had also come to the river house for the weekend. You can read all about him here.
The conversation was, of course, plant-centered once we had settled down to eat. Ann is an avid seed collector; Todd was the curator for the display garden at the famous Plant Delights nursery until recently moving back to the Peninsula. I thought it simply brilliant that he presented Ann with some cool seeds at the end of the evening.
This dinner was one of the best things to happen in my life because of blogging (that and the comments from regular readers). After 11 PM, I made it down the stairs (backwards) and we found our way out of the country roads without any more adventures.
Wow! What a treat!
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It was wonderful hosting the 3 of you. I do love to cook and it gives me so much pleasure to cook new foods for people. Not everyone enjoys this kind of experience so I am so happy you had fun (and trusted me). Spending time with other bloggers in real life is the best—especially when I’d been admiring your work on the peninsula for so long. Meeting new friends is great too. I am so happy Todd joined us.
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Thanks again, Ann!
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What a lovely account. Ann looks so darned Italian in those photos! I hope to meet up with you again to experience the gardens, food, and natural delights of your area!
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We are all (Todd, Allan, and I) going to the study weekend…maybe see you there?
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A good advertisement for blogging.
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Fun memories on finding the house. The meal was wonderful and would enjoy getting together again and experience food from another region of Italy.
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