Portable Seasoning

The high temp in our backyard today was 77 degrees. It’s mid January, also called winter, in the northern hemisphere. There's been no rain. Here I am trying to figure out how to prune roses when they are in bloom. When exactly is dormant? Although we’ve got a nice stack of logs on the front porch, we haven’t made a fire in several days. 

The ice is at the wholesale fish market where I went to find plain catfish for dinner (dredge it in panko and fry it up!). The grocery stores, if they have it at all, only carry cajun seasoned catfish, and it is way too spicy and strange for us; I’d say it’s more for folks who don’t like catfish to start with, but then why bother. The fish warehouse is delightfully cold and they didn’t mind me gawking at the bin of snow (which chills the first crabs of the season: they have finally reached consumers after a series of delayed dates and price negotiations). 

More weeding, more rose pruning. Our helper dug up our enormous rhubarb plant, whose roots were the size of my arm and went down a couple of feet.There's no way we could have done this ourselves.  I was too stunned to take any photos, but man that plant was huge. He hacked it up and replanted in three different places to make sure it takes. Pie, mostly. And coffee cakes, tarts, sauce, jam. When I was a kid I'd suck on a raw stalk dipped in sugar, but I think I'm over that.

Hipstamatic: Lowy lens, Robusta film