Fresh Corn Salad

One of my friends requested this recipe and I'm glad she did.  Are you like me and have so many good recipes that sometimes you forget about one?  Well, I do, but this is a perfect summer salad - very light and refreshing!  It's from The Barefoot Contessa, so it has to be good, right?  If your farmers' market already has fresh corn, make it - I mean it!

FRESH CORN SALAD

5 ears of corn, shucked
1/2 cup small-diced red onion
3 Tbl cider vinegar
3 Tbl good olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves (or coarsely chopped cilantro)

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone.  Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color  When the corn is cool cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob.

Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the red onions, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil or cilantro.  Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.

Seen on the web

I'm in NC this week (without W - boo-hoo!)  I'm getting a lot of cleaning chores done that I've put off for about three years.  I'm an expert procrastinator.  Which is why I'm also spending time catching up on the blogs and websites that I like.

Here's a new-to-me product for cleaning carpets and upholstery.  I have carpet in my bathroom vanity area and I'm always dropping my eye shadow applicator.  Not good.  So I'm going to try Folex.  Click here.

When I started learning how to knit last summer, I found a bunch of knitting sites that have wonderful projects.  One of them is Purl Bee, which is in New York and I made a point of going to their store when I was there in April.  Cute, cute, cute.  And here's a project that popped up yesterday in an email from  Lion Brand - a yarn company.  It uses yarn, but no knitting is required and I thought it was fun-looking.

Here are the directions:


Materials:


Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton yarn in desired colors - five are shown
Clean and dry paper milk carton (without plastic spout) 
Craft glue 
Small glass or plastic jar that will fit into carton


One of the commenters noted that if you want to use a carton with a plastic spout, just cut the flaps shorter and round them.  I think it would look fine without flaps, too.  Maybe run the yarn over the sides to cover the top couple of inches of the inside.

Recycled Milk Carton Vase

Lion Brand® Nature's Choice Organic® Cotton GAUGE: Exact gauge is not essential to this project.

VASE Cut open top of carton and bend top edges outwards. Apply a small amount of glue to one exterior side of carton and to about 3 in. (7.5 cm) inside of unfolded edge of carton. Apply A to glued area in vertical lines. Continue to apply glue and A to remaining sides of carton. Allow to dry. Cut short lengths of B, C, D, and E, and glue onto A in spirals to make dots, as desired. Allow to dry. Note: Slip jar into vase to hold water

And finally, a super cool way to send notes to people.  I love stationery.  Some women buys shoes and purses; I buy stationery and china.  So I was thrilled when one of my favorite bloggers, How About Orange, posted about a company called Paperless Post.  Click here for the blogpost and click here for the Paperless Post site.  You can personalize invitations, notepaper, etc, then send it as an email to one or a hundred people.  I love the way it combines old and new technology.

And now back to cleaning kitchen cabinets...

Here we are at Whiskey River again

It seems only yesterday I used to believe

there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.
- Billy Collins

This poem is especially apropos in light of my recent mishap in NYC, where I tripped and fell and, yes, skinned my knee and bled.  Not good.  

But what I want to think about today is the first part of the poem.  I love the image of "nothing under my skin but light."  And I wonder:  does that feeling ever really go away completely?  Yes, it's strongest when you're a young child.  I was fortunate to have a great childhood and oh my gosh, I wish I could recreate that feeling of complete security and trust in the world.  I had no and I mean zero worries as long as my mother and daddy were around.  They could do anything.  The light then was a bright, almost blinding white.

The light changed color around age 12, to a dull yellow-gray.  My mother had a health crisis and the aftermath was, in retrospect, tragic in every sense of the word.  I lost my confidence.  I didn't trust the world and I didn't trust myself.  

It has taken a long time and a lot of hard work, but at this point I visualize my light as white, but not a blinding white.  It's softer, and sometimes one can see undertones of the various colors that make up this white, much like holding a prism up to the sunlight.

Is there "nothing under my skin but light?"  No, that divine light has been tempered by my time in this life.  But the light is not gone.  If you cut me, yes, I bleed, but I also shine.

Gardening and Needlepoint - the Big Bang

Don't you just love it when two of your passions collide and create a new passion?  That's how we felt when we read about a book called Embroidered Knot Gardens in the latest newsletter from Amy's Golden Strand.  OMG. 

Alas, we didn't follow our instincts and immediately contact Amy to reserve one of the two copies she had on hand.  We could get a copy on Amazon, but we're trying to shop local, so we'll wait until she gets the next order.  It's not like we don't have anything else to do...

We've found that gardeners frequently have other artistic interests, and needlework is a common one.  Gardening and needlework are both meditative, they both allow self expression while requiring a certain amount of technical expertise, and the results can be shared with others.

Here are some other images from the book - and yes, these are needlepoint!

Can you believe it?  This book is a must-have for us.  And if you haven't been to Amy's on Summer, well.  You're in for a treat!