Three spring recipes I cannot stop thinking about, three books for slow weekend reading, and everything else worth knowing this week
It is still technically spring, but Mother Nature apparently decided to skip the middle part and go straight to summer. We crossed eighty degrees twice this week and I found Patches panting in the shade of the camellias, which tells me everything I need to know about the next few months. Is it too much to ask for a little more cool weather? That said, the mornings have been cooler, just like the Midwest, and I love it.
The garden beds are already struggling by afternoon, looking a little droopy and worse for wear. I am doing my best to keep the irrigation set as a happy medium — not too much water so they are drowning, but not too little so they are gasping by the end of the day. The deer, or should I say one deer, has been back every night around 10:30, making his way through the circle and munching on whatever he likes. I have been waiting for one wildflower to bloom, and I went out this morning and it is simply a green stick. The beautiful leaves and buds are gone. I am beginning to think the only way I am going to see some of these flowers is on an app.
It has been a good week — busy with lots of appointments for the pups, a few contractors at the house, and a project I am working on. It’s too soon to share, but when I am able I will. Not a dramatic week, just a good one. That is enough.
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Food — Spring Recipes
Three savory recipes this week, all of them spring in spirit and easy enough for a weeknight. And of course something for your sweet tooth.
Garlic Cream Bucatini with Peas and Asparagus from Lindsay at Pinch of Yum — bucatini noodles in a garlic-infused cream sauce with asparagus and sweet peas, finished with lemon and golden breadcrumbs. She makes a compelling case that winter does not get to hog all the comfort food, and I find that argument persuasive. The breadcrumbs are not optional.
Pasta Primavera from Jeanine at Love and Lemons — a full market-basket pasta loaded with asparagus, peas, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini, all tossed together and on the table in thirty minutes.
Everything Spring Green Salad from Monique at Ambitious Kitchen — seasonal greens, fresh produce, seeds, creamy avocado, and a basil lemon vinaigrette that ties everything together.
And from my own kitchen this week, I joined Sheri for our monthly series Sweet Treats for Your Sweet Tooth, and shared Browned Butter Pound Cake with Strawberry Compote.
Books
Three books this week. Two are novels. One is the kind of memoir that makes you want to go outside and look at your own garden differently.
The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes — a mystery set in 1920s England, woven around the real Mitford sisters in their girlhood home. If you love old houses, sharp dialogue, and English country life with a dark edge, this is yours. The first in a series, which is either good news or dangerous news depending on your self-control.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt — a grieving woman working the night shift at an aquarium, an octopus named Marcellus, and a mystery that connects them both to something larger. Warm, strange, genuinely moving. I shared the movie last week on Weekend Meanderings but I always think the book is better. Anyone else?
Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively — the novelist and Booker Prize winner turns her attention to gardens, and what results is something quietly extraordinary: part memoir, part meditation on memory and time, written from the vantage point of a life well and attentively lived. If you have ever loved a garden more than made sense, this book understands exactly why. ([Amazon link])
You can find all of my book recommendations at My Bookshop. Most are also available from Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org and on Libby through your local library.
Links to Read + Watch + Listen
Blowin’ in the Wind: How Nordic Countries Made Electricity Free
The Ancient Weapons Active in Your Immune System Today
18 Enchanting Small Garden Ideas You’ll Want to Copy
Smithsonian secrets most likely to blow your mind
A redesigned weekend retreat for a young family in Connecticut nods to the owner’s Southern roots
Did the Artemis II spacecraft protect the crew well enough? NASA races to find out
Candy now tastes different. It’s not just you.
Shopping — Outfit
When I saw this bag I decided to create a “spring green” outfit around it. Classic white jeans, a white shirt, green and blue and white stripe sweater and classic Tretorn sneakers. A casual outfit of layers that you can peel off as the temperatures get hotter.
I created another outfit on Monday if you love casual shirt dress that you can dress up on down.
Click Below to See the Outfit Pieces
And last but not least, you can find all of my outfits and home decor on ShopMy.
Whatever your weekend holds, I hope it’s everything you want it to be, exciting, restful, action packed? What are you cooking this weekend? I am genuinely asking — tell me in the comments.
Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings with Kim and Juliet!
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On My Radar~Spring
